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Brooklyn Norrell

Chocolate Cupcakes with a Surprise Strawberry Center

Love is in the air as Valentine’s Day approaches. Everybody knows this intimate day is generally centralized around sweets and treats. Getting something for your significant other can be costly and basic if buying a box of chocolate or chocolate-covered strawberries; so, as you begin to plan what to get, here are some recipes to give a little do-it-yourself to the gift.

Instead of your typical chocolate covered strawberries, try this recipe to satisfy the chocolate and strawberry taste.

Chocolate Cupcakes with a Surprise Strawberry Center

Ingredients:

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix
• 1 carton of clean, washed strawberries
• 1 package of chocolate pudding

Directions:

1. Prepare cupcakes as directed on package and allow them to cool.
2. Once cooled, take a knife and cut down a hole in the center of the cupcake, enough to fit your strawberry into.
3. Prepare the pudding as directed on package.
4. Place strawberry into cupcake so that the pointed end is towards the bottom.
5. Take the cupcake cut out and place on top of the strawberry in the cupcake.
6. Put pudding on top of the cake.

*If strawberries are too big to put into cupcake, cut in half – it gives the same effect as a whole strawberry.

Adapted from Little Mom on the Prairie

A simpler, richer taste brings in the extremely popular flavor of the holiday – chocolate.

Oreo Truffles

Ingredients

• 24 Oreo cookies-crushed into fine crumbs
• 5 oz. softened cream cheese
• 12-14 oz. high quality white chocolate (you can use white chocolate candy coating or vanilla almond bark)
• Heart shaped sprinkles-optional

Instructions

1. Line a tray with baking paper.
2. Crush whole Oreos with the filling into fine crumbs and combine it with softened cream cheese.
3. You can do this by hands or press it with a back of the spoon.
4. Roll balls about 1 inch in diameter and place in the freezer for about an hour, until firm.
5. Remove from the freezer and dip into melted chocolate, letting the excess drip off. Place back on baking paper and top with sprinkles and place in the freezer until hardened.
6. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer for longer storage.

Adapted from OMG Chocolate Desserts

Sharing cheesecake with your significant other is a big part of Valentine’s Day, so why not have a little cake with that cheesecake?

Red Velvet Poke Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 box Red Velvet cake mix
• ingredients needed to make cake (eggs, oil & water)
• 2 (3.4 oz.) boxes instant cheesecake-flavored pudding
• 4 cups milk
• 1 (8 oz.) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 10 Oreo cookies, crushed (optional)

Directions:

1. Prepare cake mix according to package directions for a 9×13 cake. Once cake comes out of the oven, allow it to cool for just a couple of minutes.
2. Then, with a wooden spoon handle, a spatula handle, or some other similarly-sized object, begin poking holes in the warm cake. You want the holes to be BIG so that the pudding has plenty of room to get down in there. Be sure to poke right down to the bottom of the cake.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together pudding mix with 4 cups of milk. Whisk until all the lumps are gone.
4. Pour pudding over cake. Taking care to pour it right into the holes as much as possible.
5. Spread it all out and using the back of the spoon, gently push pudding down into the holes.
6. Put the cake into the fridge to set and cool (about 2 hours).
7. Once your cake has completely cooled, spread on whipped topping. Spread it out evenly over the pudding layer.
8. Spread crushed Oreos onto the top of the cake.

Adapted from The Country Cook