Sweets for the Sweet – Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sweets for the Sweet!

Favorite Baking Molds for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day Baking Molds from ZANDA PANDA!

 

You can find these molds on the ZANDA PANDA website:

Silicone Heart Cake/Cookie/Chocolate/Craft Mold

Handmade Stoneware Valentine Heart Cookie Molds

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

♥♥♥ Happy Valentine’s Day! ♥♥♥

Valentine Cake Topper made with ZANDA PANDA’s Kaleidoscope Heart Mold

Learn how to make this Kaleidoscope Heart Cake Topper!
(There’s a video, too!)

.

Hearts & Talons – New Valentine Design – ‘Hurts So Good’ Stoneware Cookie Mold

Hearts & Talons – New Valentine Design

‘Hurts So Good‘ Stoneware Cookie Mold

‘Hurts So Good’- Hearts & Talons Valentine’s Day Cookie Mold from ZANDA PANDA

You know the song, this mold needs no explanation 🙂   It’s a brand new design which will be shipping in late January.  It joins my other five Valentine’s Day heart shaped cookie mold designs below. 

The cookie above had a light orange flavor, I spread a thick layer of dark Ghiradelli chocolate on the back.  It was a delicious combination that reminded me a little of Pepperidge Farms’ Milano Cookies.  I’ll post the recipe soon.

You can find more info on the new design in my Etsy shop.

 

For more info on the five Valentine Heart Molds below, please visit the ZANDA PANDA website.

 

MORE VALENTINE’S DAY COOKIE DESIGNS

Ruffled Heart	Traditional Heart	Hearts Afire	Ying/Yang Hearts	Love at First Sight
For the hopeless romantic in you. 2.5″ high	No frills, true-blue traditional heart. 2.25″ high	Who sets your heart afire? Tell them so. 2.5″ high	Is your sweetie Yin to your Yang? Then you already know opposites attract! 3.5″ wide	When love hits you like a lightning bolt! 3.75″ wide

♥
Which Valentine are you?

BTW, if you’re on my mailing list, watch for an e-mail by early February!

Or if you’d like to join my Mailing List, please visit:
https://zandapanda.com/mailinglist.asp
(it’s free, I will never share your info and you can unsubscribe at any time).

…

Valentine’s Day Heart Cookies – New Designs – Plus Creamsicle Cookie Recipe!

NEW!  VALENTINE’S DAY COOKIE MOLDS!

Handmade Stoneware Valentine Heart Cookie Molds

Ruffled Hearts - One of the new Valentine Heart Cookie designs

Recipe: Creamsicle Cookies | Etsy Shop: More Cookie Molds | Which Valentine?

My Stoneware Valentine Heart Cookie Molds are made for baking and crafts. Each cookie mold is individually handmade in my studio in Connecticut. To create these designs, clay is hand-formed around my original sculptures. The clay is then kiln fired twice to produce the food-safe stoneware mold. Dishwasher safe or hand wash.

See the Creamsicle Cookie recipe below and all the Valentine Heart designs on the ZANDA PANDA website – and find out ‘Which Valentine are YOU?‘

You can find these handmade stoneware cookie molds in my Etsy Shop!

Valentine Heart Cookies- Which Valentine are YOU?

 

RECIPE:

This recipe was developed specifically for molded cookies, so they won’t flatten out and lose their design when baking. I developed it using the recipe framework in Anne Watson’s cookie book.

 

Creamsicle Cookies (perfect for molded cookies)

1 cup butter
1 egg
½ cup honey 
1 Tbsp orange juice
2-3 tsp vanilla
2-3 tsp orange extract
½ cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
About 4 cups of flour

Cream butter and sugar.  Add beaten egg, honey, orange juice, vanilla and orange flavoring.   In separate bowl, mix cinnamon , salt and 3 cups flour.  Combine wet ingredients into dry, then add more flour until dough is workable, it will be soft and slightly sticky.  Chill for ½ hour.

 

Creamsicle Royal Icing

2 cups powdered sugar
1 ½ Tbsp meringue powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange extract
¼ cup water or orange juice

Beat sugar and meringue powder until combined.  Add water and beat on medium to high speed until glossy and stiff peaks form,  5-7 minutes.  Add more liquid or powdered sugar to get the best consistency.   To test for proper consistency, drip some icing off the mixing spoon into the bowl, it should sit on the surface for a moment before disappearing.

On back of cookie, using an icing bag fitted with a small round tip, trace outline with icing.  Allow to set, then flow icing into outline.   Optionally, just drizzle the icing onto the back of the cookie in diagonal zig-zags.  

Allow icing to dry thoroughly.  If stacking cookies in container, put wax paper between layers.

VARIATIONS:

  •  For a more tropical flavor, substitute canned mango pulp for the orange juice in both the cookie and icing recipe. 

  •  For extra flavor, you can also substitute orange marmalade for half of the honey in the cookie recipe.  Marmalade may leave bits of orange in your cookies, so if you’re using a mold with fine detail, you may not want flecks in it.

 

---

Click links to find illustrated directions, a PDF and a VIDEO on how to use my handmade stoneware cookie molds (demonstrated on the Halloween Cookie Molds, but the technique is the same) – and it’s really easy!

---

Hope you enjoy the recipe and molds and have a very Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

♥ ♥ ♥

For more Valentine’s Day designs, please see my
Kaleidoscope Heart Cake/Cookie/Chocolate/Crafts Mold!

 

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Sandy

♥ ♥ ♥

Blueberry Lattice Butterfly Pie

Blueberry Lattice Butterfly Pie made with ZANDA PANDA's Kaleidoscope Butterfly Mold

Check out the recipe and more images on the Zanda Panda website.  Remember, summer’s not officially over until September 23rd – and you wouldn’t want to wear white when eating blueberry pie anyway 🙂

Here’s where we picked the berries for the pie:

Rose's Berry Farm

This is Rose’s Berry Farm, in Glastonbury, CT.  We also picked raspberries there for another delicious pie.

Blueberry Lattice Butterfly Pie

Jump over to zandapanda.com for the recipe and the how-to’s and also a photo of Rose’s beautiful pond.

---

The Kaleidoscope Butterfly Cake Topper/Cookie/Chocolate/Craft Mold

Here are some other ways to use a Butterfly Mold

See larger image 

GIVEAWAY! Win a ZANDA PANDA Kaleidoscope Heart Mold

VALENTINE’S DAY GIVEAWAY!

Giveway has ended.  Thank you all for your wonderful comments!

---

Congratulations to the winner of the Kaleidoscope Heart Mold, Russ Podgorsek!

Winner was chosen by RANDOM.ORG, a Third-Party Draw Service and is entrant-accessible.  Details of the drawing can be found at: http://www.random.org/draws/details/?draw=5039 Entrant identifier is your e-mail address.

♥ ♥ ♥

I’d like to thank everyone who entered for your wonderful comments.   Thank you for taking the time to enter, your feedback is very valuable and very much appreciated at any time!

If you’re considering purchasing a Kaleidoscope Heart Mold for Valentine’s Day (or any other ZANDA PANDA item), please join our ‘Favorite People List‘  (because you already are!),  you’ll automatically receive a promo code for 15% off your first purchase -and a bonus promo code for the Puppy Mold -(Expiration 2/28).

It’s a great way to keep in touch and not miss any news.  We send our members occasional announcements of new designs and contests and we will never your share your personal information.  All we need is an e-mail address (all other info is optional), and it’s free!

Thank you again so much for your participation!

---

---

---

To enter,  just tell us which of our NEW DESIGNS are your favorites
(plus more ways to win – see below)

Win a Kaleidoscope Heart Mold for Baking/Crafts in our Valentine's Giveaway!

Our Kaleidoscope Heart Mold Valentines Giveaway is a Prizey.net Editor’s Pick!

Valentine’s Day Giveaway Prize:

One ZANDA PANDA Kaleidoscope Heart Mold

You can use the Kaleidoscope Heart Mold to bake cakes, cookies, pies and breads. You can mold chocolate, fudge, gelatin, fondant, marzipan, edible clay and No-Bake Backwards Cakes™. You can create arts & crafts like handmade soap, cast paper and polymer clay jewelry. Great to give as as a gift for the baker or crafter, or to make gifts for your friends and family. Elegant design, but also very kid-friendly!

All ZANDA PANDA bakeware is made of FDA approved, 100% food-grade, platinum cured silicone, with a temperature range of -40 to 446 °F (-40 to 230°C) and is oven, microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe.

 

ZANDA PANDA's Kaleidoscope Heart Mold

How to enter:

Required Entry:  Check out our NEW DESIGNS at the ZANDA PANDA website, then come back and tell us which are your favorites as a comment/response at the bottom of this blog post. You must leave a comment to enter!

Check out our new designs below at http://zandapanda.com/newdesigns.asp:

New Designs What's your favorite?

New Designs! Which one’s your favorite?

Carousel Animals:  Horse/Camel/Zebra/Hippocampus/Lion

Halloween Designs:  Bat/Witch/Cat

Princess/Unicorn/Castle

Knight/Dragon/Shield

 

You can choose one of the groups or any of the individual designs.  Just tell us which are your favorites.  These prototypes are destined to be stoneware cookie molds and decorative soap.

 

 

 

 

Want Extra Entries?

Addtional Entries: Each of these count as an additional entry –
but you must leave an individual comment for each entry to count!

•   Join the ZANDA PANDA Mailing List (and receive two discount promo codes!)

•   Like ZANDA PANDA on Facebook

•   Follow ZANDA PANDA on Twitter

•   Tweet this:

Win a #Valentine Heart Mold from @ZANDAPANDA! #Baking #Crafts #giveaway #contest #dessert #cooking http://tiny.cc/ZPKHGV PLS RT!

(You can tweet this daily to count as one additional entry per day)

•  If you already do any of the above, please leave an additional comment/entry!

This giveaway is open to USA residents only (with shipping address within the continental US) and will run until Monday, 2/7/11 at 11:59 pm EST.

Winner will be chosen by a random number generator and will be contacted using the email address provided on the comment contact info.

Disclosure:  These are my designs so I am totally biased, however I received no monetary compensation from myself  🙂

Please leave a comment on our new designs below, your opinions are important to us !

Thanks for participating in our giveaway!    Good luck!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Make Any Day Valentine’s Day with Embossed Hearts on a Cherry Pie

Spicy Upside-Down Cherry Pie with Embossed Hearts

Why wait for Valentine’s Day?

Upside-Down Cherry Pie with Embossed Hearts for Valentine’s Day or Any Day

Any day’s a good day to tell someone they’re special, right?  So here’s an idea for just that.  I enjoyed making the Upside Down Apple Puppy Pie so much, that I had to make this one.  I used canned cherries, which were pretty bland, so I spiced them up a little with some balsamic vinegar and cinnamon.  If you’re the adventurous type, you could add a touch of finely ground cayenne to heat things up.  I used this tart dough recipe:

Tart Dough

2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup chilled butter, cut into small chunks
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Thoroughly mix salt, sugar and flour. Cut chilled butter into flour mixture. Add ice water a tablespoon at a time. Roll into a ball and chill for 2 hours.

You’ll also need:

Kaleidoscope Heart Mold
Can of cherry pie filling
1-3 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)
Cinnamon (optional)

I used the Kaleidoscope Heart Mold and baked the pie in it.  If you wanted the embossed look but wanted to use a special pan, you could always use it as a topper for your top crust only. Directions for that can be found on the Strawberry Butterfly Topper Pie post.

Directions:

Divide your dough roughly in half.  Roll out a circle of dough large enough to fit in the mold (Gauge this by putting mold upside-down over dough, there should be extra dough all around).

Press dough into mold, being sure to press completely into the design.  Press up along sides.

(Optionally) Add balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon at a time, to taste and a dash of cinnamon and to one can of cherry pie filling.

Fill mold with cherry pie filling.

Roll top crust large enough to fit mold, place on top of filling and crimp edges of top and bottom crust together.

Crimp edges of top and bottom crust together

When crusts are sealed, cut small vents in top center of pie.

Upside-Down Kaleidoscope Heart Cherry Pie in Mold, Unbaked

Bake pie at 350 degrees F /180 degrees C / Gas mark 4  for about an hour.  Pie is done when filling begins to bubble out and crust has browned.

Upside-Down Kaleidoscope Heart Cherry Pie, Baked and ready to flip.

When pie has cooled, place serving plate over mold, invert plate and mold together and gently remove mold from pie.

Demolding: Flipping the Upside-Down Kaleidoscope Heart Cherry Pie

Yum.

For more ideas, visit “12 Ways to use your Kaleidoscope Heart Mold” on the ZANDA PANDA website.

Upside-Down Pie

New Video, New Chocolate Technique!

Kaleidoscope Heart and Kaleidoscope Butterfly Molds

Make two-tone chocolate cake toppers or No-Bake Backwards Cakes™

I’m very excited about this new chocolate technique!  I had been making multi-colored chocolate cake toppers by filling just the hearts or butterflies with a separate color.  I realized, quite by accident, that the scrollwork and flowers could also be made in another color from the background.  I think the two-tone look is very elegant.

Don’t be afraid to try this technique, even if you’re a novice baker/chocolatier.  It’s very easy and will give you amazing results.

No-Bake Backwards Cakes™

If you want to make a complete Kaleidoscope Heart cake with a chocolate shell – a No-Bake Backwards Cake™ – rather than just a cake topper,  just brush chocolate onto the sides of the mold after the second (background) color has been chilled.

Then fill the shell with layers your favorite ingredients, such as cookie crumbs, lady fingers, sliced, store-bought pound cake, jam, fruit, Nutella, drizzles of syrups or liqueurs, ice cream – anything you like!

You can optionally add a final layer of chocolate to seal the cake (which will become the bottom of the cake after demolding).

If you use candy making and dipping chocolate, you won’t need to temper it.  If using regular chocolate, here are some tips on melting and quick-tempering:

Quick-Tempered Chocolate

Finely chop chocolate or use chocolate chips. Melt two thirds of the chocolate in the microwave for thiry second intervals, stirring in between with a silicone or rubber spatula (don’t use a wooden utensil, it can introduce moisture which will cause your chocolate to ‘seize’). Keep the temperature below 120F. When chocolate has melted, add the remaining one third in three batches, stirring until smooth after each addition.

Using a pastry brush, paint the melted chocolate into your mold. Be sure to brush into the crevices, brushing out any trapped air bubbles.

Try this cake topper for Valentine’s Day!

Valentine’s Day Kaleidoscope Heart Chocolate Cake Topper

White Chocolate “Cameo” Kaleidoscope Heart Mold Topper

Kaleidoscope Heart Cake Topper for Valentine’s Day

See step-by-step instructions below.

Watch the VIDEO to see how easy it is!

 

This Kaleidoscope Heart Cake Topper is very easy to make and is perfect for Valentine’s day.

All you need is:

♥  Silicone spatula
♥  Gel food coloring
♥  White chocolate

I used Ghirardelli’s Candy Making & Dipping Bar (the kind you’d dip strawberries into or make candy with).  This is how easy it was to make:

First Layer-Hearts and Scrollwork

♥ Melt several medium sized chunks (a handful) of white chocolate according to package directions (in this case, in the microwave for one minute at half power, stir, then for 30 second intervals,until melted, stirring in between).

♥ Add  desired color of GEL food coloring to the chocolate for the first layer.  This layer will be the hearts and scrollwork.

♥ With the spatula, spread chocolate around on the face of the mold.  Then, holding the edge of the spatula at about a 45 degree angle, drag it across the face of the mold.  This will scrape away the chocolate on the highest, flat areas and leave chocolate filling in the scrollwork and hearts. If chocolate begins to solidify, just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds.

Second Layer- Base Color

♥ When this layer has cooled and solidified, repeat the melting process again with about four times more chocolate.  Tint again with a different or contrasting color if desired or use white, milk or dark chocolate.

♥ Pour chocolate into the center of the mold and spread gently out to the sides with a spatula, so that you don’t dislodge or melt the first layer.

♥ When cool, peel mold away and top a cake or cheesecake for instant elegance.

Alternatively, brush more melted chocolate along the sides of the mold using a pastry brush.  When cool, fill chocolate shell with layers of your favorite fillings.  Place plate over mold, flip mold and cake together and gently peel mold of of your No-Bake Backwards Cake!

New Technique! Marbled Cameo for the Kaleidoscope Butterfly Cake Topper

I’m so proud of myself!

I’ve just thought up a ridiculously quick and simple way to make absolutely gorgeous cake toppers using two colors of chocolate.

Two-Tone 'Cameo' Kaleidoscope Butterfly Cake Topper

So all I did was take melted Ghirardelli molding chocolate, put it on the surface of a Kaleidoscope Butterfly Mold, pull a flexible silicone spatula across it, let it cool, then add white chocolate on top of it!  That’s IT!!!

Ghirardelli Dark Dipping Chocolate

Ghirardelli White Dipping Chocolate

I wasn’t even very careful about it, and where I ‘missed’, it created a very pretty marbled effect!

If it started to solidify,  I’d just pop it into the microwave for a few seconds.

I am going to have so much fun with this technique!

I can’t wait to try to using tinted white chocolate in pink and red for Valentine’s Day – A Kaleidoscope Heart, No-Bake Backwards Cake with all the elements in a contrasting color, not just the hearts!

You could probably get a very pretty ‘stained glass’ look rather easily by using several colors.

You can also use regular chocolate, but be sure to temper it, so that it will solidify properly without graininess:

Quick-Tempered Chocolate

Finely chop chocolate or use chocolate chips. Melt two thirds of the chocolate in the microwave for thiry second intervals, stirring in between with a silicone spatula (don’t use wood, it can introduce moisture and cause your chocolate to ‘seize’).  Keep the temperature below 120F.   When chocolate has melted, add the remaining one third in three batches, stirring until smooth after each addition.

Using a pastry brush, paint the melted chocolate into your mold.  Be sure to brush into the crevices, brushing out any trapped air bubbles.