In case you’ve forgotten, tomorrow is Valentine’s Day (or, if you prefer, Anna Howard Shaw Day). Which means, if you’ve got a Valentine (or children), you’ve got to do something romantic/lovey/heart-shaped. Unless you don’t celebrate, which is cool. But you could always make a valentine for yourself. And what expresses love for anyone, self included, better than food?
Heart-shaped pancakes are a classic, whether you pipe the batter onto the pan or just cut round cakes with a heart-shaped cutter. You an also take the cutter to toast, sandwiches, quesadillas, sliced fruit and vegetables–you can even use it to fry a heart-shaped egg. This year, I decided to use mine to do something different. You see, every week I make a batch of homemade English muffins for the boy, who consumes one every morning without fail, and I usually shape them by using a biscuit cutter. So this time I made some heart-shaped. I also decided to play with the idea of a heart-shaped donut, but instead of using regular dough, I thought I’d make a cruller, which is fried pâte à choux. I was able to pipe a heart onto a square of parchment paper, then throw the whole thing (parchment and all) into the oil, so it would retain its shape when fried. They turned out pretty well. See?
Of course, when Valentine’s morning comes, I doubt I’ll be dragging my butt out of bed early enough to make anything so labor intensive (you really want them fresh), so I’ll probably go with the heart-shaped egg and toast thing. Though my husband is never hungry when he first gets up in the morning and usually eats his breakfast at work. Good thing I still have some heart-shaped English muffins. I’ll send one along in his lunch box, I guess. And then maybe for dinner I’ll make a heart-shaped pizza.
The Sensitive, Bookish Type 