Valentine's treats...

Although we're a couple of weeks past Valentine's I thought it would be fun to start my first post off with some sweet treats that we enjoyed this year! The great thing about all of these is that they can be enjoyed all throughout the year, we definitely aren't limiting any of them to just Valentines at our house!

First up I made these Strawberry Shortcake Muffins from Dashing Dish for my son and his friends for our playgroup Valentine's party. The only change I made to the recipe was that I added 1 Tbsp of chai seeds to the batter. Since a friend turned me on to the amazing health benefits of chai seeds I've started adding them to most of the breads, muffins and baked goods I cook. And of course to make them a bit more festive I baked them in a heart shaped pan & then wrapped them up in some cute bags for Ian to give as Valentines.

The ingredients that brought these delicious little muffins together...

Finished product...

These are delicious muffins full of fresh strawberries; they're great for kids or adults, and we've already made them again since we liked them so much!

I decided the moms in playgroup needed a little something sweeter, and because I'm obsessed with all things salted caramel (especially baked goods) I decided it was a perfect opportunity to try these Salted Caramel Pumpkin Muffins from My Blessed Life that I've been eyeing since coming across the recipe on Pinterest. They are oh so delicious with the salted caramel glaze...YUM! I didn't have dried cranberries so made mine without but I'm sure they'd be delicious with as well. I also used brown sugar instead of raw sugar for the muffin batter, but otherwise followed it just as she recommended with fabulous results!

If you like pumpkin with a bit of salted caramel goodness you've got to give these a try! As you can see from the pics below I should have given the muffins a little bit more time to cool before adding the glaze, but they were still delicious!

Whipped up another batch a week later for a different get together; you can see in this pic how they look with the glaze after give a bit more time to cool...

And last but certainly not least, I decided to make a special dessert for my husband for Valentine's... and if I'm perfectly honest also for me & my sweet tooth! Now that we have a little one it's more difficult to make it out to dinner, especially on Valentine's Day, so I decided to bring something special to us to enjoy, and oh my goodness were these ever special!!! These Mini-Mocha Cheesecakes from Lindsay at Sugar Mama were incredible, and needless to say my husband's new favorite desert! They definitely delivered that special something sweet! I garnished ours with homemade whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon and it added such an awesome extra bit of flavor...if you like chocolate and mocha flavors you absolutely must try these!!!

From my kitchen to yours, enjoy!