Spread love on Valentine's Day

It's easy. Prepare a special treat that's a delight for both the eye and the palate. Your Valentine is guaranteed to be thrilled – whether it's your sweetheart, your neighbour, your best friend or your children. We're sure you'll have no problem deciding who to invite. We've collected some recipes of special treats to inspire you. If you want to prepare a Valentine's dinner, we've got recipes for that too. You'll find them under the link at the bottom of the page.

Below are recipes for Valentine Muffins, Chocolate Hearts with Mint Chocolate Mousse, Meringue Stacks and Puff Pastry and Apple Hearts.

Valentine muffins

Ingredients
250 g plain flour
150-200 g Dansukker Granulated Sugar
10 g baking powder
1 egg
175 ml milk
50 ml oil

Decoration
120 g Dansukker strawberry flavoured Icing Sugar
5 ml water
5 ml liquid margarine
Jelly hearts

Mix all the ingredients together. Pour into muffin cases. Bake at the centre of the oven for 15 minutes at 200°C.

Mix together the icing sugar, water and margarine to make a smooth icing. If the mixture is too thick, add a drop or two of water. Spread the icing over the muffins. Put a jelly heart on each muffin.

Variation: Cut a heart-shaped “lid” off the tops of the muffins and fill the muffins with fromage frais or whipped cream mixed with jam or berries. Top with the heart-shaped lids.

Orange hearts

makes about 20

Ingredients
150 g butter or margarine
180 g plain flour
60 g Dansukker Icing Sugar
3 g Dansukker Vanilla Sugar
1 egg yolk

Filling
2 eggs
100 g Dansukker Granulated Sugar
25 g plain flour
15 ml orange juice concentrate

Decoration
Dansukker Icing Sugar

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Work in the butter/margarine and egg yolk. Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour, then press the dough into greased heart-shaped tins. Bake at the centre of the oven for 6 minutes at 200°C. While the hearts are baking, mix together the ingredients for the filling. Divide the filling between the pre-baked heart tins. Bake for a further 5-7 minutes. Allow the hearts to cool before removing them from the cases. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Chocolate hearts with mint chocolate mousse

makes 4

Ingredients
50 g chocolate (any kind)
4 heart-shaped cake tins

Filling
60 g After Eight*
15 ml water
15 g unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
30 g Dansukker Granulated Sugar

Decoration (optional)
Sugar sprinkles

Line the tins with plastic film. Melt the chocolate over a water bath. Brush the inside of the tins with the melted chocolate. Refrigerate until set. Turn the tins upside down and remove the plastic film.

Put the After Eight, water and butter in a bowl and melt over a water bath. Stir in the egg yolk. Beat the egg white with the sugar until stiff peaks form, and fold into the chocolate mixture. Fill the chocolate cases with the mousse. If desired, decorate with sugar sprinkles, for instance small sugar hearts or silver balls.

*Suggestion: use white After Eight if the chocolate cases are dark and dark After Eight if the chocolate cases are white.

Meringue stacks

Ingredients
Meringue
3 egg whites (100 ml)
200 g Dansukker Granulated Sugar
2 ml vinegar

Filling
200 g fresh or frozen berries
100 ml whipping cream
100 g fromage frais
15 g Dansukker Jelly Sugar Multi
3 g Dansukker Vanilla Sugar with real vanilla

Decoration
15 g Dansukker Icing Sugar
Fruit or berries

Set the oven temperature to 100°C. On the back of a sheet of baking parchment, draw hearts measuring about 10 cm in height. You’ll need to make three hearts for each meringue stack. Grease the heart shapes and sprinkle them with flour. Beat the egg whites, vinegar and half the sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the rest of the sugar. Spread or pipe the mixture into the prepared heart shapes. You can use the remaining mixture to make ordinary meringues. (These make a delicious dessert mixed, for instance, with whipped cream and/or ice cream.) Bake at the centre of the oven for approximately 45 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Whip the cream with the jelly sugar and vanilla sugar until firm. Fold the berries and fromage frais into the cream. Sandwich the meringues with the filling just before serving. (If you want to assemble the stacks in advance, brush them with melted chocolate to prevent the filling from softening the meringue. If you use white chocolate, it won’t show.) Decorate the meringue stacks with some fruit or berries and dust with icing sugar.

Puff pastry and apple hearts

makes 2

Ingredients
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry
2 apples
15 g liquid margarine
15 g Dansukker Cane Sugar
1 g Dansukker Vanilla Sugar


Roll out the puff pastry following the package instructions. Cut two hearts out of the pastry, using a cutter or a knife. Peel and core the apple. Cut it into thin wedges, and arrange them on the puff pastry. Brush with margarine. Mix together the two sugars and sprinkle over the apple wedges. Place the hearts on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake at the centre of the oven at 200°C for about 15 minutes. Serve with a little ice cream, whipped cream or vanilla