Valentine Heart Boxes
Like many of my do it yourself craft projects, I leave a lot of the imagination up to you. Below are the different items that you my use to decorate these boxes. Vintage Valentine’s cards can be found in antique stores. Of course it’s best to find your supplies around Valentine’s Day. Start by painting the boxes, inside and out before you decorate them.
You Will Need:
Heart shaped boxes
Paints (I like the metallic ones)
Old Valentines or scrap papers
Glitter and glue
Heart scraps and Dresden’s
This box had some decorative indentions in it. I decided to paint it pink and then lightly follow the pattern with gold paint. I decorated cherub scrap paper with glitter and then glue it to the lid. Then I glued a small gold star shaped Dresden’s to the sides and then jewels in the center of each one.
By using heart shapes that are larger than the box, this style closely resembles a chocolate candy box. I cut out red cardstock in the shape of a foil heart doily and then glued them together. Then glued one as the base and one on top of the lid. Then I decorated it with a heart shaped foil Dresden and a flower scrap paper. Glittering flower scraps are difficult so I just glittered the edges.
This box uses an old Valentine that I embellished with glitter. I glued it to a gold foil heart doily and then to the lid. I happened to have a long gold foil border which is a long strip. I trimmed up the bottom and glued it on.
Chocolate Truffles
There are so many ways to flavor truffles. I’m always trying to come up with new flavors. When “inventing” a new flavor, use extracts, dried fruits, citrus peels, and spices. You don’t want to add a lot of liquid, so think concentrated. Coat them in cocoa, chopped nuts, sprinkles, etc. When choosing your chocolate, don’t be cheap. I won’t name names, but there is a very popular “chocolate morsel” that I do not recommend for anything unless it’s chocolate chip cookies. You don’t have to spend a lot, but use the better chocolate chips at your local grocery store. Semi-sweet chocolate is traditionally 35% chocolate liquor and 12% milk solids. Below is my basic truffle base.
Basic Truffle Base
1/3 C Heavy Whipping Cream
6 T Unsalted Butter
2 C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Cocoa Powder, Approx. ¾ C
Over double boiler (pot of light boiling water with a metal bowl over it), heat the cream and the butter. Stir in the chocolate.
*at this point you would add your flavoring
Let it cool in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and scoop them out. Roll them into a ball and then in the cocoa powder (or nuts, sprinkles).
*I find this to be very messy as this point. My tips are to use a small ice cream scoop and to roll them lightly and quickly and put them into the cocoa in approximately multiples of 6 at a time. The heat from your hands will melt them.
Clean and dry your hands, and then roll it in the cocoa. I recommend storing them in the refrigerator until about 30 minutes before serving but refrigeration is not necessary.
My Most Inquisitive Flavors:
Dried cherries with chopped pistachios
Crystalized ginger with fresh orange zest, rolled in white and black sesame seeds
Crispy bacon with maple syrup and cracked pepper (substitute the butter for the rendered bacon fat)
Dried cranberries rolled in pecans
Port reduction with almonds
Nutella rolled in chopped hazelnuts
Chocolate Marzipan Candies
Marzipan is traditionally made by grinding whole almonds with sugar or sugar syrup and drying it into a paste. It is popular in European deserts including cake icing, stollen, fruit cake, chocolate candies and rolled into figurines of animals, fruits, and vegetables. The recipe below is best with baking marzipan which is a slightly finer paste.
Melt semi sweet chocolate in a double boiler or slowly in the microwave. Fill chocolate molds slightly less than half way. Pick up the mold into the air and carefully rotate it so that the chocolate coats the entire mold. Refrigerate for bout 2-5 minutes.
Take the marzipan and roll it into small balls. Put them into the molds and then cover with chocolate to the top. Let them cool completely and then pop them out of the container. Serve as is or in small baking cups.
