Disney-inspired Valentines Day Recipes

Sweetheart Spaghetti-and-Meatball Cupcakes



Inspired by the movie: Lady and the Tramp

You'd think that being a collarless mutt who answers to the name of Tramp would put you at a distinct disadvantage when it came to impressing a lady. Not so with this scruffy yet charming stray. After Aunt Sarah has Lady muzzled, Tramp is quick to come to the little cocker spaniel's rescue. First he brings her to the zoo where a beaver chews through the leather to free her. Then, he takes her out for a romantic dinner at his favorite Italian restaurant. Piled with a generous serving of sweet spaghetti and candy meatballs, these saucy cupcakes are certain to score points on Valentine's Day.

Ingredients

Batch of baked cupcakes
Vanilla buttercream frosting
Butter knife
Fondant, store bought or homemade (see recipe below)
Powdered sugar
Round chocolate candies, such as malt balls, Junior Caramels, or chocolate covered peanuts
1/4 to 1/3 cup strawberry jam or seedless raspberry jam
Whisk
Small bowl
Pastry brush

Quick Fondant Recipe

3 tablespoons softened butter
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Combine the butter, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and salt in a mixing bowl and use an electric mixer on medium speed to blend them. Add the sifted sugar and mix the fondant on slow and then medium speed until it begins to clump together. Then knead the fondant with clean hands until it is smooth. If it ends up being too dry, add a little more corn syrup; if it's too sticky, sift in more powdered sugar. Wrap the fondant tightly in plastic and store it in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. Makes enough to top a dozen or so cupcakes with spaghetti.

Directions

Working with one cupcake at a time, first spread the top with a thin coating of buttercream frosting.
Dust your hands with powdered sugar. Pinch off a 1/2-inch lump of fondant from the batch and roll it between the palms of your hand to create a thin, long rope that resembles a strand of spaghetti. Drape the spaghetti onto the cupcake, curling and looping it just like the real thing. Continue shaping and adding more strands of fondant spaghetti until the cupcake is topped with a good "serving".
Once all the cupcakes are covered with spaghetti, prepare the sauce by whisking the jam in a bowl until smooth. Use the pastry brush to spread the sauce over the noodles.
Top each serving of spaghetti and sauce with a few chocolate meatballs.

Minnie's Polka-Dot Cookies



Inspired by the character: Minnie Mouse

Ever since their 1928 film debut in Steamboat Willie, Minnie and Mickey have been an inseparable duo. After 80-plus years of courtship, a mouse is apt to know what sort of valentine will prompt his better half to utter those famous words: "Aren't you sweet?" Fashioned after Minnie's favorite dress, these heart-shaped polka-dotted cookies are the perfect fit. They're made with a shiny icing that's easy to spread and pipe (the recipe below makes enough to frost about two dozen 3-inch cookies).

Ingredients

Heart-shaped cookie cutter
Batch of chilled sugar cookie dough (homemade or store bought)
Sifter
2 cups powdered sugar
Small mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
Toothpick
Small plastic bag
Red food coloring
Waxed paper
Butter knife

Directions

Cut heart shapes from the sugar cookie dough and bake them according to the recipe or package directions. Allow the cookies to thoroughly cool.
Prepare the cookie icing by sifting the powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl and then stirring in the milk. Add the corn syrup and stir until the mixture is smooth.
Use the toothpick to poke a small hole in the corner of the plastic bag. Then spoon a third of the icing into the bag. Set the bag aside for now.
Stir drops of red food coloring into the remaining icing in the bowl until you have the desired shade.
Cover your working surface with a sheet of waxed paper. Working with one cookie at a time, spread the tops with the colored icing and immediately use the icing-filled plastic bag to pipe on white dots. (If you do this while the tinted frosting is still fluid, the dots will spread nicely to the same level.) To keep the dots as round as possible, lift the bag straight up from the cookie after you've piped the icing. You can practice the technique beforehand by piping a few dots onto a piece of waxed paper.

Honey Bee Mines



Sure, Winnie the Pooh's affinity for honey often proved a nuisance to Rabbit and the other residents of the Hundred-Acre Wood. Still, who could blame him for wanting his fill of such a tempting treat? Made with honey and peanut butter, and striped with chocolate, these valentine sweets are truly the bee's knees.

Ingredients

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup softened butter
1/2 cup honey
1 1/4 cup crushed crisped rice cereal*
Wooden spoon
Small microwavable bowl
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Slivered almonds

*An easy way to crush the cereal is to seal it in a plastic bag and roll over it with a rolling pin.

Directions

Combine the peanut butter, butter, honey, and crushed crisped rice cereal in a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until well mixed.
Shape teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls and chill them until firm.
Measure the chocolate chips into a microwavable bowl and heat them in the microwave for 15-second intervals, until they are melted (note: they won't lose their shape). Stir the chocolate with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Drizzle chocolate stripes over the honey balls.
For bee wings, set two almond slivers on top of each honey ball, using a dab of chocolate to secure them and fanning them toward the sides just a bit. Makes about 2 dozen.