Valentine’s Day: Not Your Everyday Dozen Roses…

Every year, it's the same old thing; a bouquet of roses, the teddy bear with the little red bowtie, and the assorted chocolates encased in the heart-shaped box, wrapped in cellophane. Valentine's Day is supposed to be a holiday that celebrates the love between two people and the admiration and gratitude felt in the relationship. However, these trivial tokens hardly express the feelings of care and love. The flowers will wilt, the teddy will lose his charm and, let's face it, the chocolates will go straight to your thighs. This February 14th, why not make the effort to show that special person in your life that you love them by thinking outside the heart-shaped box?

It’s often said that the best gifts are not bought, but are homemade. Ladies, why not satisfy your man’s sweet tooth by whipping up a batch of clever, yet delicious cupcakes that are sure to make him drool? Guys, show your girl you’re willing to put in the effort and take the time to create a dozen of these fun, playful rose cupcakes, the perfect replacement for that played-out bouquet that will inevitably end up in the trash a week later.

Rose Cupcakes (yields 24):

What You’ll Need:

1 box Betty Crocker ® SuperMoist ® 1 container Betty Crocker ® Whipped

   devil’s food cake mix     vanilla frosting

1 ¼ cups water 12 rolls of Fruit by the Foot fruit leather

1/3 cup vegetable oil    in Cherry Rage or strawberry flavor

3 eggs 2 rolls of Fruit by the Foot fruit leather

1 pair of scissors    in Color by the Foot flavor

What You’ll Do:

1. Frost 12 mini cupcakes with white icing.
2. To make a rose, unroll a piece of the cherry or strawberry fruit leather and divide it in half along the wavy perforated middle line. Take one of the halves and roll up about 5 inches to form the flower's center. Set the rolled strip wavy side up in the middle of a cupcake, as shown, and continue to loosely wrap the remaining fruit leather around the center at a slight angle until the flower is completed.
3. Repeat this process for the remaining flowers. (You should be able to get 2 mini roses out of each roll of fruit leather.)
4. Cut leaf shapes from the wavy edge of the Color by the Foot strip as shown, then tuck the leaves under the roses.

These cupcakes are sure to make you fall in love! Enjoy!

FamilyFun Magazine- http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/rose-cupcakes-686747/