Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats

February 11, 2013 by

Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats

Yes, more red velvet. Red Velvet Pancakes were just not enough. Valentine’s Day gets me all in the red velvet mood, what can I say?

Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats

Valentine’s Day always makes me miss being a kid. I used to love going to the store to pick out cards to hand out in class. I usually went for ones that had a Disney princess or the girliest ones I could find. I remember giving the “coolest” cards to my closest friends. Valentine’s Day at school was always kind of a waste of a school day. Decorating bags or boxes to hold all of the cards, and then of course came all the treats and candy. And then of course, it was always fun to go through cards. It always sucked when someone else gave out the same cards as you did.

Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats

These red velvet rice krispie treats are perfect to bring to a school party, but also perfect to enjoy with a glass of champagne! I love the look of the pink candy melts drizzled on top, but you can also use white chocolate (but, you guys know how I feel about that…). Oh, and then sprinkles. Sprinkles are a must.

Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats

Print
Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: about 18 treats

Ingredients

  • 3 tbs. unsalted butter
  • 1 (10 oz.) bag mini mashmallows
  • 1 cup red velvet cake mix
  • 6 cups Cocoa Krispies cereal
  • pink candy melts or white chocolate (for drizzling on top)
  • sprinkles (optional)

Instructions

  1. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray.
  2. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Pour in the marshmallows and stir constantly until the marshmallows are melted. Mix in the red velvet cake mix.
  3. Pour in the cereal and mix until it is well-coated with the marshmallow mixture.
  4. Pour the mixture into the baking dish. Using greased hands, spread and press down with your hands.
  5. Melt some pink candy melts or white chocolate in the microwave and drizzle on top. Add sprinkles if desired.
  6. Let the treats dry for about 2 hours before cutting.
http://eat-drink-love.com/2013/02/red-velvet-rice-krispie-treats/

Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats

Red Velvet Rice Krispie Treats
Filed Under: Cookies, Desserts, Holidays, Kid-Friendly · Tagged With: , , , , 17 Comments

Pomegranate-Pear Champagne Punch

February 8, 2013 by

Pomegranate Pear Champagne Punch

The typical beverage of choice for most people during the Super Bowl is beer. But, not for me. While watching the game last week, I was sipping on some of this pomegranate-pear champagne punch. I guess I just like to be fancy. And also, it was Sunday, which is my day for cooking and photographing everything for the blog, but whatever. Oh, and like always, I don’t want to drinks to go to waste, so I end up drinking both of them in the middle of the afternoon. I have no tolerance anymore and so then I fell asleep. I am so lame.

Pomegranate Pear Champagne Punch

We don’t have any big plans for Valentine’s Day. I think since we have been together, we have only attempted to go out on Valentine’s Day like maybe once. We hate crowds so we are going to do what we always do for special days: Sit at home in PJ’s, eat a lot of fondue, and probably watch more Bones on Netflix. We are out of control!

I love pom juice, but I think my favorite part about this drink is the pear nectar and of course, the pretty pink color! This punch fruity and addicting! I think I will fancy things up this V-Day by mixing up more of this punch! Nothing says Valentine’s Day and romance like a glass of champagne, am I right?!

Pomegranate Pear Champagne Punch

Print
Pomegranate Pear Champagne Punch

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pomegranate juice
  • 1 cup pear nectar
  • 1/4 cup orange-flavored liqueur (like triple sec)
  • 1 bottle (750 ml) champagne

Instructions

  1. In a pitcher add in the pomegranate juice, pear nectar, and the orange liqueur and stir together. Slowly pour in the champagne. Chill before serving or serve over ice.

Notes

Recipe from Martha Stewart

http://eat-drink-love.com/2013/02/pomegranate-pear-champagne-punch/

Pomegranate Pear Champagne Punch
Filed Under: Cocktails, Drinks, Holidays · Tagged With: , , , , , , 24 Comments

Red Velvet Pancakes

February 1, 2013 by

Red Velvet Pancakes

Red velvet pancakes. Red velvet anything is pretty much one of my most favorite things in this world. And although it is totally cliche, red velvet screams Valentine’s Day. And what perfect way to start the day of love than with these pancakes?

Red Velvet Pancakes

When I first made these, I actually thought they could use more of a chocolatey taste. I think next time, I might add a handful of chocolate chips to the batter. Because, you know, these aren’t already over-the-top as is. The cream cheese glaze is so perfect on these and I found that a little goes a long way! If these weren’t so right, it kind of seems wrong to eat something so decadent and wonderful for breakfast!

Ladies, these are totally breakfast-in-bed material. To get your significant other to make them for you, just leave this page open on your computer for a while so they see it. You know, like the same thing we can do when we want expensive jewelry…

Red Velvet Pancakes

Print
Red Velvet Pancakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Serving Size: 2 pancakes

Ingredients

    For the pancakes:
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3 tbs. red food coloring*
  • semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
    • For the cream cheese icing:
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • milk

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder.
  2. In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and the food coloring.
  3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet ingredients and fold together until well-combined, but try not to overmix. Stir in the chocolate chips (if using).
  4. Heat a fry pan on medium heat (or use a griddle). Spray the pan with non-stick spray, or add a pat of butter. Pour about 1/4 cup of the pancake batter into the pan. Cook on one side for about 2 minutes, then flip and cook for another 2 or until the pancake is fully cooked. Continue this process with the remaining batter.
  5. To make the icing, beat together the cream cheese, sifted powdered sugar. Add in milk, one tablespoon at a time, and mix until the icing reaches your desired thickness (I did about 2-3 tbs.).
  6. Drizzle some of the icing over the pancakes and serve. Garnish with fruit, nuts, butter, or a sprig of mint.

Notes

In regards to the food coloring, you can also use gel food coloring, in which case would require less than regular liquid color.

http://eat-drink-love.com/2013/02/red-velvet-pancakes/

Red Velvet Pancakes
Filed Under: Breakfast, Holidays · Tagged With: , , , , 28 Comments

Red Velvet Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting

February 14, 2012 by


AND A GIVEAWAY!

Happy Valentine’s Day! I don’t typically post on Tuesdays, but since today is a special day, I wanted to share something really yummy with you guys! I can’t believe that I have had this blog for 9 months and have not yet posted a red velvet recipe! I LOVE red velvet anything! And although it may be a little cliche to post a red velvet recipe today, I don’t even care because these red velvet brownies are so good!

I made this recipe up on the fly and while these brownies were pretty good, they were a little too cakey for my taste. I prefer brownies that are somewhere in between being cakey and fudgey. So, when you read the recipe, I provided the recipe I followed, but if you would prefer for your brownies to be fudgier, please note the changes in parentheses.

Hubs and I will be staying in and plan to have a nice fondue dinner at home tonight. We HATE crowds and are total homebodies, so a nice relaxing night at home is perfect for me! What are you all doing today?

After you read the recipe, don’t forget to scroll down to enter my GIVEAWAY!!

Red Velvet Brownies

Makes about 2 dozen brownies

Ingredients (Follow ingredients in parentheses for fudgier brownies):

– 1 1/4 cups flour (or 1 cup flour)

– 1 tsp. baking powder

– 2 cups granulated sugar

– 1/2 tsp. salt

– 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

– 1/2 cup buttermilk*

– 3 eggs, room temperature

- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

– 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted (or 4 oz.)

– 1 tsp. vanilla

– 1 tsp. vinegar

– 1 tbs. red food coloring or 2-3 tsp. gel food coloring*

Ingredients for the Cream Cheese Frosting:

– 8 oz. cream cheese, softened

– 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

– 2 cups confectioner’s sugar

– 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a 9×13 baking dish (or use a jelly a roll pan that is similar in size (I used a 15 1/4″ L x 10 1/4″ W jelly roll pan) with parchment paper. Spray the paper with non-stick spray.

2. In a bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Mix until well-combined. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, beat together the butter, eggs, and buttermilk. Stir in the melted chocolate, vanilla, vinegar, and food coloring. Then add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Stir until well-combined. Evenly spread the batter in a baking dish or pan. Bake for about 25-30 minutes* until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow the brownies to cool completely before frosting.

4. For the frosting, cream together the butter and cream cheese. Add the vanilla. Add the confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time and mix until well-combined.


Notes:
- Don’t have buttermilk on hand? Simply add a tsp. of vinegar or lemon juice to regular milk and let sit for 5-10 minutes.
- I prefer to use red gel food coloring for these. First, you can use less and get the same effect as you can with liquid color. I also prefer it here because it does not taint the taste of the brownies.
- If you use a 9×13 pan, the bake time will be closer to 30 minutes. I used a jelly roll pan that was a little larger, so the batter was spread out more and it took closer to 25 minutes.

Ok, now that we got the brownies out of the way, let’s get to the giveaway! If you like me on Facebook, you may have been reading that I was trying to get to 500 likes. Well, thanks to some wonderful support of my readers and other bloggers, I got to 500! I made a promise that when I got to 500 I would have a giveaway!

A couple of weeks ago, I posted my list for Valentine’s Day Gifts for Foodies. One of the items I featured was this adorable coffee scoop from Uncommon Goods:

After going through all of the comments, this adorable coffee scoop seemed to be the most popular item on the list. And while the Hubs is my main Valentine, you all are also my Valentine (insert obligatory “Awwwwww” here)! So, as a thank you to you all, I am going to give away this coveted scoop to 1 lucky reader!

This giveaway is open until SUNDAY, Feb. 19th at 11:59PM (EST) and is open to U.S. residents only (sorry international friends! Uncommon Goods doesn’t ship outside the U.S!).

1. For your main entry, leave a comment telling me your best or worst Valentine’s Day story!

For extra entries:

2. Like Eat. Drink. Love. on Facebook. Leave me a separate comment telling me you did so.

3. Follow Eat. Drink. Love. on Twitter. Leave me a separate comment telling me you did so.

4. Tweet about my giveaway. Be sure to mention @eatdrinkluv in your tweet so I know you tweeted. Leave me a separate comment telling me you did so.

5. Follow me on Pinterest. Leave me a separate comment telling me you did so.

Ok, so that’s 5 ways to win the coffee scoop! The winner will be announced on Monday, Feb. 20th. The winner will be chosen via a random number generator. Winner has 24 hours to claim prize or a new winner will be chosen.
Filed Under: Desserts · Tagged With: , , , , , 79 Comments

Strawberry Marshmallows

February 8, 2012 by

I don’t like to post too many sugary recipes on my blog, but sometimes, you gotta have some sugar! I’ve always wanted to try making my own marshmallows and with Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make some delicious marshmallows! But, not just plain marshmallows, strawberry marshmallows! I was really unsure about how these would come out, but they came out perfectly! So pretty and delicious! Hubs didn’t care for them, but he doesn’t really like marshmallows to begin with. These are delicious to eat just plain, but they are even more delicious in a cup of hot cocoa OR with s’mores (o.m.f.g! so good!)!

So I want to point out three things for this recipe, aside from the ingredients, that is! First, you need a candy thermometer. You can get one pretty cheap on Amazon or Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Second, I highly recommend using a stand mixer for these. The mixture needs to be mixed on a high speed for about 10 minutes. You can certainly try it with a hand mixer, but be forewarned that you are going to get quite the arm workout and it will take you longer than 10 minutes! And third, patience. Once you mix these up, they will need to set for at least 10-12 hours, if not overnight.

Strawberry Marshmallows

Adapted from Brownie Points Blog

Makes about 50 marshmallows

Ingredients:

– 1/2 cup pureed strawberries, seeds removed*

– 4 envelopes gelatin

– 1 1/4 cups water

– 3 cups sugar

– 1 1/4 cups light corn syrup

– 1/4 tsp. salt

– 1 tsp. strawberry extract (optional)

– red food coloring (optional)

– powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:

1. Fit your stand mixer with the wire whisk attachment. Add the strawberry puree, 1/2 cup of water, and 4 envelopes of gelatin.

2. In a saucepan, heat the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 3/4 cup water. Bring to a boil and cook until the mixture reaches a temperature of 240 degrees (soft-ball stage).

3. SLOWLY pour the hot mixture into the mixer bowl. If you have a splash guard for your mixer, this is a great time to use it! Add the strawberry extract. Mix on medium-high speed for about 10 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the food coloring one drop at a time until it reaches the color you desire!

4. Line a sheet pan (about 15 1/4″ L x 10 1/4″ W) with parchment paper or foil. Spray the paper or foil with non-stick spray or oil it. Spread the marshmallow mixture into the pan in an even layer. Let sit at room temperature, uncovered for at least 10-12 hours, if not overnight. To remove the marshmallows, flip the pan over onto a surface dusted with powdered sugar. Cut into squares or use a small cookie cutter to cut into shapes. Roll the marshmallows in additional powdered sugar to keep them from sticking together.


Notes:
- You can remove the strawberry seeds by using a sieve. Push the puree a little bit at a time until the mixture goes though and the seeds are removed.
- I wanted my marshmallows to really taste like strawberries, so I added some strawberry extract. I also wanted them to be pinker, so I added some red food coloring, but this is totally optional!
- The marshmallows can be stored in an air-tight container up to a week, but they taste best when eaten within the first few days that they are made.
Filed Under: Desserts · Tagged With: , , , 31 Comments