Love One Another Mug

 

Hey friends, I came across this Love One Another Mug today.

The newest addition to the handcrafted mug collection, the beautiful “Love One Another” Mug, with its understated cream hue, is adorned with a whimsically delightful hand-painted heart motif, symbolizing the core of what matters any day of the year - to love one another.

They are on sale. Visit The Keeping Company here.

Love One Another

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

 

Wonderful flavors of almond and cherry in this heart shaped Valentine Cookie

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup finely ground almonds

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

5 tablespoons cherry jam

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add egg, milk, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Scrape down sides of the bowl, and beat on medium-high until fully incorporated about 1 minute.

Scrape down sides of the bowl again and add dry ingredients. Mix on low until flour is fully incorporated, about 1 minute.

Form dough into a disc, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°F. On a floured surface, roll out cookie dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using large heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out 30 hearts, rerolling scraps of dough as needed. Use smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out small hearts from the center of 15 large hearts. Discard small hearts. Place large hearts on parchment paper-lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven until just beginning to brown, about 9 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool.

Take all cookies with hearts cut from the center and using a sifter, dust them with powdered sugar. Take the whole-heart cookies and spread  1 tsp. cherry jam onto the surface, leaving a 1/2 border around the edge of the cookie without any jam. Stack the powdered sugar-covered cookies on top of the jam covered cookies, lightly pressing to make the cookies stick together.

Southern Living Recipe

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Chocolate Strawberry Cake

Rich and fudgy dessert with buttercream frosting. The frosting gets its light pink from the fresh strawberries blended into the frosting. This cake makes birthdays extra special.

Cake Layers

Vegetable shortening, for greasing pans

1 (4-oz.) semisweet chocolate baking bar, chopped

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup (8 oz.) salted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups (about 8 1/2 oz.) all-purpose flour, plus more for pans

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon table salt

1 cup whole buttermilk

Frosting

1 cup (8 oz.) salted butter, softened

6 cups (about 1 1/2 lb.) unsifted powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries (from 6 whole strawberries), divided

Additional Ingredient

Whole and halved fresh strawberries

Prepare the Cake Layers: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 3 (8-inch) round cake pans; set aside. Place chopped chocolate in a small heatproof bowl; pour boiling water over chocolate. Whisk until chocolate is melted and smooth. Let stand until cooled to room temperature, about 20 minutes.


Beat butter with a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add granulated sugar and brown sugar, beating until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg yolks 1 at a time, beating until just blended after each addition. Add vanilla and cooled melted chocolate, beating until blended. Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture, beating on low speed until just blended after each addition.


Beat egg whites in a separate bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes. Gently fold into chocolate batter. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans.


Bake in preheated oven until a wooden pick inserted in centers of Cake Layers comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove Cake Layers from pans; let cool completely on wire racks, about 40 minutes.


Prepare the Frosting: Beat butter with a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and 2 tablespoons of the chopped strawberries, beating on medium speed until mixture is creamy with streaks of strawberries throughout. Increase speed to medium-high; beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Gently fold in remaining strawberries.


Place 1 Cake Layer on a platter; spread about 1/2 cup Frosting over top of layer. Repeat process with 1 additional Cake Layer and 1/2 cup Frosting. Top with remaining Cake Layer; spread remaining Frosting over top and sides of cake. Garnish with whole and halved strawberries.

A Southern Living Recipe Found Here

Credit: Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Melissa Gray; Prop Styling: Missie Neville Crawford

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Chocolate Dipping Sauce

A simple recipe with so much richness and elegance. This recipe was given to me by my friend and great cook, Michele Ludwick. Adjust the recipe as needed.

72 oz. Chocolate Chips

4 cups heavy cream

Stir over low heat until melted.

Photo Source Baked Broiled and Basted

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