Holiday How To: Glitter Candles

These pretty, do-it-yourself candles are great as a centerpiece for your Valentine’s themed party or a dinner for two!

Items Needed:

Pillar Candles (any size, sometimes a variety of shapes and sizes works GREAT!)

Double Sided Tape

Loose Glitter

Shallow bowl/plate

Here is how you do it:

How To:

1. Place tape in the desired design on the candle. This could be solid stripes horizontally around the candle, or diagonal stripes, etc.
2. Pour loose glitter into the shallow plate
3. Place candle in the loos glitter and roll until the tape is well coated in sparkles!
4. Brush off access glitter with fingers or a brush/sponge.
5. Enjoy!

(Please note to be careful when burning these candles, as you do not want to burn the tape)

Bacon, Caramel, Marshmallow Bark

Since Valentine’s Day is all about candy I couldn’t resist making my own! Again, I wanted to do something different. I love the combination of savory and sweet and this recipe lends itself perfectly to it.

Preparation: Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper with a one-inch overhang on each side.

16 oz  Semi-Sweet Chocolate

4 Cups Mini Marshmallows

1 Cup Caramel (Recipe Below)

1 Cup spiced Bacon Crumble (Recipe Below)

Instructions; Chocolate: Melt Chocolate and pour onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate into a ¼ layer. Place in freezer for about 5 minutes or until chocolate has hardened.

Instructions; Marshmallow: Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a microwave safe dish. About 45 seconds. Stir in 4 cups of mini marshmallows until coated. Heat for 1 minute. Stir marshmallows until they are barely melted. Spread mixture over the hardened chocolate. Let the marshmallow and chocolate layers sit until marshmallow is cool.

Instructions; Spiced Bacon Crumble:

16 oz Bacon Cooked and crumbled

2 Teaspoons Brown sugar

¼ Teaspoon Cayenne pepper

Fresh Ground Black Pepper to Taste

Place crumbled bacon pieces on a microwave safe plate. Sprinkle brown sugar, cayenne pepper and black pepper over bacon. Toss to coat. Microwave bacon mixture for three 30 second increments to combine the spice mixture. Toss after each increment. Set aside until ready to use.

Instructions; Caramel:

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

4 tablespoon butter

7 tablespoon heavy cream

Place sugar and water in a pot over medium low heat. No not stir. Once sugar has dissolved increase heat to high. Now and then, using the handle, give the pot a swirl to keep the mixture moving. The mixture will start to bubble after a minute. As the mixture darkens to a medium amber color, approximately 5-7 minutes, add the butter and heavy cream to saucepan. The mixture will bubble wildly. Whisk to combine. Let caramel cool for about 10-15 minutes. Pour caramel over the cooled marshmallow and spread evenly. Immediately spread crumbled bacon on top of caramel mixture. Press down so bacon sticks to caramel.

 

 

 

 

 

Place bark into the freezer to set. About 20 minutes. Using a sharp knife cut the bark into desired pieces and ENJOY!

Holiday How To: Homemade Flavored Barbeque Sauces

Looking for some unique and different Valentine’s Day gift ideas? Look no further! Charm City Concierge has created some one-of-a-kind gift ideas that will make anyone smile!

This year we wanted to focus on homemade gifts with a twist for their loved ones. From sweet to savory we have everyone on your list covered.

Personalized Homemade BBQ Sauces.

I love cooking and wanted to create unique Valentine’s day gifts for the special people in my life. I wanted to focus on more of a savory treat and knew that BBQ sauce was a great base! I mean, who doesn’t love BBQ! For my recipes I decided to make my own BBQ sauce base and kick it up a notch with a few more simple ingredients. You can make your own base, which was very easy, or jazz up a favorite BBQ sauce you already have. The three flavors I decided on were, Honey, Spicy Chipotle and Chocolate, it is a Valentines Day gift after all. Once I prepared each sauce I stored them in glass jars that I had around the house. It gave each sauce the perfect homemade feel!

Molly’s BBQ Sauce Recipe

½ cup Ketchup

¼ cup Cider Vinegar

3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 Teaspoons Chili Powder

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

3 Shakes Worcestershire Sauce

1 Teaspoon Salt

Honey BBQ Sauce

Add ¼ cup of honey into the sauce

Chipotle BBQ Sauce

1 Tablespoon Chipotle Powder

1 Tablespoon Sriracha Hot Sauce.

½ Teaspoon Cinnamon

Chocolate BBQ Sauce

3 oz Semi-sweet chocolate

Heat the BBQ Sauce base until it starts to bubble. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, stir until melted and combined. We hope you enjoy these tasty and fun recipes for a gift or for you to enjoy!

Holiday How To: Sweet Treats Bouquet

Our Sweet Treats Bouquet makes an adorable, edible centerpiece for any Valentine’s Day celebration or the perfect gift with that extra-special homemade feel!

Ingredients:

Melted Dipping Chocolate, Wooden/Plastic Dipping Skewers

Toppings: Sprinkles, Colored Sugar, or Crushed Peppermint

Marshmallows, M&Ms and Candy Hearts

Vase or Metal Tin, Cutting board or Plate

Microwaveable bowl

Here is how you do it!

1. Place marshmallows on the plastic skewers so that they are secure on one end.
2. Melt Chocolate in a microwaveable bowl until it is smooth when stirred. (Best way to do this is in 30-45 second increments, stirring in between)
3. Scoop marshmallow stick into chocolate sauce so that most of marshmallow is covered in chocolate. Be sure to let the excess chocolate drip off the marshmallow.
4. Roll the chocolate covered marshmallows in the topping choice.
5. Place the marshmallow on a cutting board or plate to let the chocolate/topping mix set.
6. After all marshmallows have been dipped, fill vase with M&Ms or  Candy Hearts.
7. Once chocolate is hard on marshmallows, arrange skewers in the vase to make a “bouquet” of marshmallows
8. Enjoy!