Valentine's Day Comes Early on Handle the Heat and Adding Floral Infusions to Cocktails

A round-up of tasty morsels from Valley food blogs. Valentine's Day is still a few weeks away, but that doesn't mean it's too early to start breaking out all those chocolaty, insanely decadent desserts that we hate to love. This week Handle the Heat did just that by baking up...

By Caitlin McQuarrie

January 27, 2012

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18478561",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "16759093",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759092",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759094",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        }
      ]

A round-up of tasty morsels from Valley food blogs.

Valentine's Day is still a few weeks away, but that doesn't mean it's too early to start breaking out all those chocolaty, insanely decadent desserts that we hate to love. This week Handle the Heat did just that by baking up a chocoholic's dream: chocolate-stuffed red velvet cupcakes. What's not to love? The recipe is easy even for the amateur pastry chef, and in Handle the Heat's opinion, this batch is better than your regular, run of the mill red velvet.

Who would have thought flowers would be the secret ingredients to making your favorite cocktails taste even better? Over at PhoenixBites.com, editor Amy Martin tested the Elixir Floral Infusions that are now available here in Arizona. The line of four infusions is made from natural floral extracts and can be added to nearly every beverage you can think of with only 20 calories per serving. Martin's favorite? The Damascan Rose, which can be used to spice up some whiskey or even a glass of champagne.

Follow Chow Bella on Facebook and Twitter.

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.