Valentine's Day Yummies

My amazing friend, Katie, has this incredible food blog.  And it makes me drool every time I read an entry.  Not only is she a busy attorney who finds time to do marathons with her equally awesome husband, but she also bakes yummy goodness FROM SCRATCH on a regular basis to share with friends & family.  And this blog isn't just a list of ingredients--she has mouth-watering pictures & fun stories to go with each recipe.

Now, I am NOT Betty Crocker, but I can make a mean ice cream crunch (thanks to clique weekend 2001 & dear friend Meredith!)  And ice cream crunch is my "go to" when I'm invited to dinner & asked to bring dessert. However, this weekend we had two dinner dates with family friends & didn't feel like ice cream was either an appropriate February dessert or very Valentine-y.  SO, I went on a search for something online that would be easy enough for me, but still kid friendly & fun.  After looking for about 45 minutes, I settled onto Katie's blog for some inspiration.  I came upon her recipe titled "Mint Oreo Cupcakes and Uh, Laziness" and I knew I found the winner.

You can view this recipe on her blog & the beautiful pics she took of HER masterpiece.  Honestly, she makes me feel a tad inadequate as a woman, but she can't help it.:)  And it's why we love her so much!

I changed up the recipe just a bit as Katie did hers for the holidays & went with a red/green theme.  Using the same red velvet cake mix, I just chose to put some red food coloring into my icing rather than the green she used.  We ended up with a lovely pink/red for Valentine's Day which was a hit.

You might have noticed the title was "Mint Oreo Cupcakes" & Joel so kindly stopped eating long enough to allow me to snap a view of the yummy layered goodness.  If you happen to peek at Katie's pictures on HER blog, her husband must eat a little neater because there was just no getting around the mess of this at my house.  

Saturday evening we had our 3rd Annual Valentine Dinner with our friends, The Heyers. 

As you can see, all of us enjoyed the end result.  While not as professional looking as the originals that I had for inspiration, I am very proud of our treat.  It was my first attempt at the swirly icing on top & rather than try to shave chocolate, I opted for "pearl" sprinkles I had in the cabinet to add a touch of "fancy" to our version.

It was a very lovely Valentine's Dinner & you can click on Katie's link above to get the actual recipe. I followed it exactly except for the food coloring color I added to my icing.  And take a look around--if you're braver than me, there are certainly some YUMMY recipes that I wish I had the nerve to try for myself.  

Thank you, Ms. Katie--thanks to you, we had a delicious Valentine's treat enjoyed by ALL!