Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
Before I start talking about all the excuses why I haven’t updated for a long long time, I wish everyone the sweetest day of 2009! Every year, I’ve tried to make my own sweet for my husband rather than buying something, but it seems like it won’t be happening in this year.

Well, my excuse for the past lazy & quiet couple of months was moving. Yes! my husband and I finally moved to other city! It is not San Diego as we wanted & planned, but it is San Francisco, yay! We do not mind at all as we can explore San Francisco and live in the city before we move out of California.

My husband has started his new job and I am looking for a job in the city. We’ve decided to get a temporary place for a couple of months, so we can get to know the city and find a permanent place for us. I would love to start baking right away, but all of my baking pans and equipments are in a storage and the place where we are staying doesn’t have an oven. So, unfortunately I have to wait until we get our permanent place. But, I have a few posts including new recipes, which I am planning to upload time to time, so I don’t disappoint my visitors. Plus, I will post some good pictures of the city while I’m waiting for my kitchen. =]

Oh, I’m also planning to redesign Sugar Coated Kitchen. I’ve been drawing so many different outline for the past few months and I think I finally decided what I want. So, that is another exciting news. I will work hard on it!

I’m busy with a job hunting right now, but I am so excited and ready for delicious restaurants, beautiful natures, cool places, and everything that I will experience! I am totally new to this city, so if you know or live in San Francisco & Bay area, please let me know everything about the city!

Have a sweet day!

I always have dreamed about making (or molding) my own chocolate, but never did because of ‘tempering.’ In order to get a hardened chocolate that is shiny and smooth, ‘tempering’ must be done properly. I never had a candy thermometer, so I didn’t think about molding my own chocolate.

But, I found out that there is a way to mold my own chocolate without tempering. So, I decided to do this for a fun Valentine’s day post! There are products that are already tempered, so all I have to do is melt and mold them! Look for candy melts by Wilton at a craft store like Joann or Michael’s. You can also find different shapes of candy molds at the store. So, here we go.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Candy molds
Pastry bags
Decorating tips (#1 or #2)

Ingredients

Candy Melts – Dark & White
Food Coloring (Get type)
Nuts (If you desire)

HOW TO MAKE

Melting & Coloring Chocolates

1. Place dark candy melts in a double boiler and melt them in a low-medium heat.
2. Place white candy melts in a double boiler and melt them in a low-medium heat.
3. Add desired food coloring in white candy melts(I used rose pedals) and mix well.
4. Put candy melts in pastry bags with tip # 1 or 2 (very small circle shape).

Designing & Molding

5. Draw lines, dots, or letters as you want and put them in a refrigerator for 5 minutes. (So, the design remains as we want when we fill out molds.)

6. Fill out molds with opposite color, so you can see your design well. Drop the mold lightly for a couple of times to get the air out and smooth the surface with a spatula or a back or knife. Put them in a refrigerator about 30 to 60 minutes or until they get hard.

7. Fill out lolly pop mold and place lolly pop sticks by spinning the stick. Put them in a refrigerator about 30 to 60 minutes or until they get hard.

* To take the chocolates out from a mold, flip the mold – upside down and drop it on a parchment or wax paper. They should come out easily by tapping or dropping.

Custom designed chocolates!

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Give enough time to harden chocolates before you take them out of molds. Otherwise, the surface won’t be shinny as they suppose to be.
2. If you made mistakes while molding or melted chocolate was getting hard, just put them in a double boiler and melt them again. The best part of using ‘candy melts’ is that you don’t have to worry about tempering!

Chocolate Lollipops…Ummmm….=]

TASTE REVIEW

I was so amazed by the taste of ‘candy melts.’ I always hesitated to buy them because I wasn’t sure about their quality, but it was very good. Plus, no tempering process makes it so much easier!
Also, chocolate covered nuts were also fantastic – I love any chocolate covered nuts!!!!

I tossed nuts (macadamia nuts & almond) in leftover candy melts and drizzle with white chocolate.

Happy Valentine’s Day!
It’s always good to bake and make something for my loved ones.

Valentine’s Day is coming soon.
I think one of the best ways to express your love is baking these sugar cookies and decorating them with royal icing. Royal icing is good for decorating cookies with because it has good hardness to it. However, personally, I’m not a big fan of royal icing because I don’t like raw egg whites in my icing. =]

I’m trying to find an alternative icing which is easy to work with and tastes good, but for now, I use royal icing to decorate my sugar cookies. I made my icing by combining meringue powder + lemon juice + powdered sugar until I got the consistency that I needed, which is stiff but soft. So, you’ll need to play with the ratios until you’re happy with the icing.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENT

Equipment

Rolling pin
Cookie cutters
Piping bag & Decorating tips

Ingredients for Sugar Cookie Dough – Makes 3 dozen (2 1/2 inch) cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon milk
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Ingredients for Royal Icing

1 tablespoon meringue powder
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus extra

HOW TO MAKE

Making Sugar Cookie Dough: Sorry, I forgot to take pictures! =(

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color.
3. Add egg and milk and beat to combine.
4. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
5. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Rolling & Cutting Dough: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Sprinkle surface (I usually use a wooden cutting board.) with powdered sugar and top of the dough, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick.
2. Cut into desired shape (Of course, heart for Valentine’s Day) by using cookie cutters.
3. Grease your baking sheet with butter or place parchment paper on a baking sheet, and
place cookies. Bake about 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn light brown around the edges.
4. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Decorating Cookies

5. Mix all the ingredients for royal icing by using a small whisk. Then, pipe a outer line with thick royal icing.
6. Then, add more water or lemon juice to royal icing to adjust its consistency and fill out the line.

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. If you are using butter to grease baking sheet, make sure that you really grease it well. There were parts that was not greased well, and cookies got ugly when I tried to take them off.
2. I have found three different royal icing recipes that use water, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Which one is the best? I think it just depends on your preference!
3. When you decorate cookies, use the smallest tip (usually #1 or #2). This might seem too small, but it is the right size to write letters and draw as you want.

You can either fill out the top of cookies with royal icing, draw lines and heart, or write a note.

TASTE REVIEW

I didn’t like the icing – I think it’s just me, don’t like royal icing.
However, everyone loved these cookies!
My friends loved the lemon taste of icing although I thought there was too much lemon juice in it.

Sprinkling decorating sugar before the icing gets hard gives another look.

Show your love with your homemade cookies!

Happy Valentine’s Day!