Sweet Creativity: Handmade Inspiration for Valentine's Day

No matter what day it is, or what the weather is like – my Sweet Tooth wants to be appeased.  It might be the end of a long stressful day, or the end of a wonderfully relaxing evening – but they both end the same way – with me wanting dessert. 

I love confections; that soft bite of a cupcake, the satisfying crunch of a cookie, or the sweet snap of a block of chocolate – my mouth is watering as I type! 

With desserts comes some form of creativity.  Perfecting the recipe, making sure it’s beautiful – the creation of sweets can be just as intricate and involved as knitting a pair of gloves, or making a lovely handmade card. 

Since we're getting close to Valentine's Day, let’s take a peek at some of the lovely sweets that handmade artisans are making today.

What is the perfect little night-cap when you’re sitting on the sofa, snuggling under some warm blankets?  Hot chocolate, of course!  For amazingly decadent hot chocolate, look no further than Teton Cocoa Company.  This New York-based Cocoa Business is run by the talented Jennifer, who was inspired by her mother’s creamy hot chocolate while she was growing up.  With flavors like Pumpkin Spice, Amaretto and Hazelnut, each cup of Teton Cocoa (see main picture and below) is a warm promise of delightful goodness!  Stop by the store and check out Jennifer’s range.  Her personal favorites are caramel, original and white chocolate.

Another store filled with chocolate goodness belongs to Tammy Jackson.  Lollidreams is a lovely store that specializes in Cake Truffles.  Anything combining the words “cake” and “truffles” is a sweet tooth’s dream come true!  Cake Truffles are just a tad larger than bite-size, and moister than your average slice of cake. They also have the delicious outer shell that you’d expect from a regular chocolate candy truffle.  These cake truffles are the marriage of Tammy’s two main passions – baking and art – how wonderful that she gets to make an income-generating something that she loves (that also happens to be delicious!).

A lovely sweet that is wonderful any time of day (yes, even breakfast!) are the lovely jams from Lemonbird Handmade Jams. Owner and Jam-maker Extraordinaire Amy Deaver hand-makes each of her delicious jam offerings.  A vacation to the south of France gave her a greater appreciation for fine jams, and inspired her to try making her own batches for family and friends.  Then things switched into high gear after a coworker gave her 50 pounds of homegrown peaches – this lead to Amy offering up her delightful concoctions for sale to the public.  Amy’s love for jam-making is multi-level – she not only loves combining unusual flavors (her favorites being lemons, tangerines, blood oranges and limes), but also the community of buying locally.  She picks out each ingredient from her local farmer’s markets, and has formed relationships with these family farmers.  You know that when you are buying from Lemonbird, you are supporting several layers of families.  These jams are versatile gifts because you can give them to anyone from your next-door neighbor to your gourmet-loving boss.

Don’t these all sound amazing?  It really is inspiring to hear about people being so talented and creative in making sweets.  So which of these sweets are tickling your fancy right now?  I think I will take one of each!

Dionne Christiansen is a graphic designer based in Houston, TX.  She is the face behind the Etsy store City of Dionne and writes at her blog Notes From Dionne.