Valentine's Day Delights

For some reason, I cannot seem to stay out of the kitchen, especially when a holiday is around the corner. I crossed the line into candy making. This is not the first time I've made candy as I've made fudge quite a few times, and even not-so-successfully attempted turkish delights. In honor of Valentine's Day, I decided to make some truffles for Gabrielle's teachers. They were actually pretty easy to make, and I ended up making waaaay more varieties than I needed. I didn't give her teachers the milk chocolate ones with brandy, or the white chocolate ones with Kahlua :-P, but I did give them some of the regular white chocolate and milk chocolate ones, and well as some dark chocolate with orange, which I now regret because I gave some to my friend Jean to try and she said they were REALLY bitter because they were rolled in cocao powder. Sorry Jean! Why didn't I know that? Because I hate dark chocolate and refused to tasted them. They looked like the right consistency so I was willing to let em go. Guess next time I should have someone taste them before I give them away. Either way, it's really surprising how easy they are to make. And to think I've been paying Lindt Chocolate 59 cents for just one of them! I think I need to start being my own Master Swiss Chocolatier
:-P I think I ended up making over 100 truffles in eight different varieties. . . white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate with khalua, milk chocolate with brandy, milk chocolate dipped in white chocolate, white chocolate dipped in milk chocolate and on and on and on. . . you get the idea.! And now most of them are sitting in my fridge where they keep tempting Robert :-P. So if you live near me and you're reading this, be forewarned, I may be showing up at your doorstep with truffles in hand!
And as if that wasn't enough, he he he, I made more cupcakes :-P Yeah, I'll admit it. . . I am crazy cupcake lady. Or maybe just crazy lady in general! I actually made these for Gabrielle's class for her Valentine's Day party. But because I overfilled the muffin cups on the first try and they ended up looking ugly, I made a second, much prettier batch. What can I say, I am a perfectionist. Although truth be told, I think the ugly batch was tastier because they had more of the yummy filling in them. I love cupcakes with filling, it's like a surprise! Earlier this week I made vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry mascarpone filling. I forgot to blog about them and didn't take a picture of them because they were ugly too :-(. I wasn't too crazy about them, but the filling was really tasty. Anyway, back to my Valentine's cupcakes, otherwise known as Cherry Cordial cupcakes, well they were Devil's Food cupcakes with a cherry pie and cream cheese filling (that you can't see very well in the picture, but it's truly what made the cupcake great) topped with that cherry buttercream frosting that I love so much. What else can I say except delicious??? I think I'm addicted to cupcakes. Aaaaargh. . . . somebody stop me!