Raspberry Gin and Tonic Recipe With Berry-Infused Ice Cubes!

If you love a Gin and Tonic, this recipe is just for you! This drink is light, refreshing, and really goes down smoothly! This Gin and Tonic has a hint of lime, strawberry, and raspberry. And, these would be perfect for Valentine's Day or Date Night! For the ice cubes, in a heart-shaped silicone mold, I filled them up half way with frozen raspberries and chopped up frozen strawberries, then filled the rest of the way with regular water. They're so cute! 

RASPBERRY GIN AND TONIC RECIPE

Ingredients for 2 Drinks:

Begin by making your fruit-infused ice cubes, as instructed above. Once the ice is frozen, mix 4 oz Gin and 10 oz tonic water into a glass. Add about 1/2 tbsp of sugar of these are too tart for you. Feel free to also squeeze some lime juice into the glass, to cover up the gin taste a bit more :) Add the ice cubes (after the gin and tonic water so they retain their shape better), and top with a lime wedge.  The ice cubes quickly began to make the drinks a bit pink, which I love! These are so refreshing and I hope you LOVE them!!! 

Yummy Heart Chocolates - Makes A Great Gift!

I had SO much fun creating these heart chocolates. I made them in several varieties, and I am going to tell you how each one turned out! I used the highest-quality ingredients, mostly from the baking aisle and craft stores (for the heart mold and sprinkles). These turned out so well! 

 These would be the perfect Valentine's Day gift for someone who loves sweets but is hard to shop for! These aren't super expensive to make, like some seasonal recipes are, either! 

******

INGREDIENTS:

Silicone Heart Mold - Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips - Ghirardelli White Chocolate Melting Chips - Andes Mint Baking Pieces - Chopped Walnuts - Heath Baking Pieces - Festive Sprinkles

*Note - do not use almond bark or candy melts for this method*

For best results, use a spoon to place toppings in heart mold. Let's begin the fun! 

Here are my "toppings" from left to right. 

Heath - make sure to only use a light, single layer of these or they won't all stick to the chocolate.

Andes - My favorite! Fill with Andes about 1/3 of the way.

Sprinkles - Look best on white chocolate, rather than milk.

Chopped Walnuts - Use only a light layer, similar to Heath.

Larger Sprinkles - use a single layer for best results.

*The prettiest ones were the little nonpareils (tiny ball sprinkles) in a single layer*

Now, melt the chocolate! I used a double boiler method (explained here - but do not add any butter). I used a shallow, medium pot and filled it about 1/3 of the way with water. I placed two 2 Cup Pyrex measuring cups in the water for a double boiler. Melt 1 package each of the milk chocolate and white chocolate in separate cups. Slowly melt the chocolates, and stir frequently. They should be smooth and move easily. 

******

Once your melted chocolate is smooth, remove the cups with an oven mitt, and place them onto a towel near your work space. Get a little bit of chocolate onto a spoon, and begin adding milk chocolate to half of the hearts...

And, white chocolate to the other hearts. Be careful not to get chocolate everywhere, so your end result is prettier.

Carefully, slide the hearts onto a baking sheet or cutting board to transport them into the freezer. 

Here they are after being in the freezer for less than an hour! Make sure they are completely cooled and hardened before you move them. 

One of my favorite parts was removing the fresh chocolates from the molds and seeing my creations! I liked most all of them, and think they would look adorable packaged up all cute for Valentine's Day! 

A Bouquet Of Bacon Roses

These bacon roses are so great! You can't exactly surprise someone with them, as the smell of bacon does tend to be pretty prominent while you're baking these. 

But, you could definitely surprise someone when they got home from work with these for Valentine's Day!

Here is how you make them. They're pretty easy!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

Long skewers, green florist's tape, wired leaves, 1 package of thin cut bacon, waxed butcher paper (optional - to wrap bouquet), scissors, and toothpicks. (Also, a baking tray covered in foil and a wire rack to bake the roses on. I used the one from my toaster oven).
******

1.) Preheat oven to 350* F. Spray non-stick spray onto your wire rack. Place rack onto your foil lined baking sheet.

******

2.) Using a cutting board as your work surface, roll each piece of bacon into a "rose" shape and insert two toothpicks to hold the spiral in place. I use rubber gloves for this part! Roll the roses so the white, more fatty part is downward. Secure with 2 toothpicks.

3.) Place each bacon "rose" onto the wire rack and bake for 25-30 minutes. 

******

4.) While the roses are baking, grab your skewers, green florist's tape, and scissors. Wrap each skewer with the tape, beginning at the pointy end. At first, wrap the tape around a few times and press to secure onto skewer. Then, at more of a diagonal, run tape the rest of the way down the skewer. Rip off the tape at the end of each stick, and use fingers to secure any loose ends. Repeat as many times are you have bacon slices.

NOW, add the leaves to the sticks by winding the wires around skewers and securing tightly.

5.) Carefully remove the bacon roses from the oven, making sure not to spill any grease. Let them sit until they are almost cooled. This won't take long. 

6.) Put your gloves on again, carefully remove the toothpicks, and stick each leafy skewer stick so the pointy end does not show.

That's it! You're done. And you have a beautiful bouquet of Bacon Roses. Aren't they amazing?!

To eat them, just use a fork to remove the bacon roses from the stems, and serve on a plate.