Sweet Treat Tuesday!

I'm normally not a big Valentine's Day celebrator, but this year I went a little crazy. The Hubs and I always celebrate with a nice dinner and the exchange of small gifts, nothing to fancy, and that's the way we like it. We save bigger celebrations for birthdays (I'm REALLY into big birthday celebrations). So when I got the itch to bake, I baked ALL DAY!

These are heart-shaped raspberry tarts! They're cute AND tasty and they were fun to make. Here's what I did:

 *First I made the filling so I could have it cooling while I made the pie crusts.

1. You'll need 1 cup of whatever fruit you'd like (I used raspberries).
2. Pit the fruit if needed.
3. Combine (with fruit) 3 tbls of sugar, 2 tbls of water, 2 tbls of cornstarch, 1/4 tsp of almond extract in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.
4. Make sure to stir, stir, stir!
5. Once it is brought to a boil immediately turn it to low and keep stirring. At this time makes sure the fruit is somewhat liquefied.
6. Remove from stove and allow to cool. (After stirring and stirring mine, I put it in the fridge).
7. Now your filling is complete!   

Now for the pie crusts! I was going to make it easier on myself by buying pre-made crusts (Hey! Ain't no shame!), but unfortunately the closest store is 30 minutes away and I just didn't feel like leaving my apartment, so I made it from scratch.

Now that you have made/opened your crusts, lay flat and make any shape you want! I had a old, old Wilton heart-shaped cookie cutter from ages ago so I used that! Don't have any shapes? Just cut them into little squares! They're still going to be super yummy!

After I had paired up all of pie crust hearts (They're so in luuuurrrrve!), I fetched the raspberry deliciousness from the fridge and dabbled just a tad in the center on one little heart. I then took the other, laid it on top and pressed the edges together with a fork. Now it will get messy and frankly with dark red raspberry sauce it somewhat looks like a valentine's massacre, just be careful not to smoosh all the sauce out by slowly pressing the VERY edges.

• Note: The sauce may not be as thick as you'd like, just add cornstarch and stir. You can add as much as you feel you need, it'll still taste delicious!
• Note: If ya want to, you can always add some yummy glaze to the tarts! 

Now, are you ready for an even easier treat recipe? I mean, it's a piece of cake. Well actually, easier than that. Here's what you'll need:

• Milk, dark or white chocolate to melt.
• Peanut butter
• Mini-cupcake liners
• Sprinkles!

*Here's what I did:

1. I heated up the chocolate in the microwave, to me it's harder to scorch that way.
2. I placed the mini-cupcake liners in my mini-muffin pan to keep them sturdy.
3. I then filled the papers just enough to cover the bottom.
4. I let them cool.
5. I then placed a dollop of peanut butter in the center of each.
6. I finished them by filling them to the top while making sure the sides of the peanut butter were full as well.
7. Then? Get your sprinkle on and let them cool!

Kisses&Hugs, Tiffany!