I am loving these festive Valentine's Day sweet treats and concoctions to whip up for your special someone on Valentine's Day this coming Saturday. Try one of these fresh beverage recipes alongside a delicious homemade meal or try one of these delicious and easy to make desserts to spread the love to your friends, family and loved ones.

These are styled so creatively, they are almost too beautiful to eat/drink! Enjoy.

Sugar Glazed Candied Blood Oranges / Recipe by: Paper & Stitch

Photo / Brittni Mehlhoff — Photo / Brittni Mehlhoff

Ingredients:

2 blood oranges and 1 kara kara orange
2 cups of granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups of confectioner sugar
1-2 tablespoons of half and half or cream water

Instructions:

1. Start by thoroughly washing each orange, then slicing up the oranges into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Discard the end slices of each orange.

2. Next, blanch the orange slices in a medium or large skillet, by adding the slices into a pan full of water and bring it to a boil for 3 minutes. Then, drain the oranges and repeat this process one more time, before putting the orange slices into an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Blanching the oranges this way will remove some of the bitterness.

3. Next, pour out any excess water from the pan. Then, on medium heat, add one cup of water and 1 1/2 cups of sugar and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Once dissolved, stop stirring. Add oranges slices once it begin to bubble.

4. Leave the oranges to simmer for 45-60 minutes. You know they’re done when the edges are slightly translucent.

5. Remove the orange slices from the pot and place on a cooling rack for 4 hours.

6. Pour the remaining 1/2 cup of granulated sugar into a small bowl. Dip orange slices into the sugar. Then set aside.

7. Next, mix powdered sugar and cream in a bowl and whisk until a smooth glaze is created.

8. Dip each orange slice into the glaze. Then place on a cooling rack.

9. Add sprinkles over top the glaze and let the glaze harden for several hours. Enjoy!

Linzer Heart Cookies / Recipe by: Cooking Classy

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup (96g) slivered almonds
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
8 oz strawberry or raspberry jam, seedless if preferred (preferably freezer jam)

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, salt and baking powder, set aside. In a food processor, pulse almonds with brown sugar until finely ground, set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together butter and powdered sugar on low speed until combined, then increase to medium-high and whip until creamy, about 1 minute.
Mix in egg, then blend in vanilla and almond extract. Mix in almond mixture, then with mixer set on low speed, slowly add in flour mixture and mix until combined.
Form mixture into a ball and drop onto a sheet of plastic wrap, then flatten into a 6-inch round disk, cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Dust work surface with flour, cut disk in half and then evenly roll out each portion into 1/8 to 1/6-inch thickness.
Cut into heart shapes using a cookie cutter, then using a smaller heart shape cookie cutter, cut smaller hearts into the centers of half of the hearts.
Carefully transfer to Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheets (you can run a sharp knife or pastry scaper under cookies to help lift them if needed. Also, chill dough that's not currently being rolled or baked, the hearts hold their shape better when cold), spacing cookies 1-inch apart.
Bake in preheated oven 10 - 12 minutes until edges are lightly golden.
Cool on baking sheet several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Spread strawberry jam over whole hearts, dust cookies with heart cut centers with powdered sugar then place those cookies over over tops. Store in an airtight container.

Love Punch / Recipe by: Design Love Fest

Ingredients:

lillet rose
blood orange soda
sparkling wine
rosemary syrup (recipe right here)
pink grapefruit juice

and for garnishes . . .

lemon wedges
lime wedges
maraschino cherries
rosemary sprigs

Instructions:

throw some ice cubes in one of those cute glasses you pulled out.
fill 1/4 of the way with grapefruit juice
then split the next 1/4 of the way with blood orange soda and lillet.
a healthy splash (maybe a tablespoon) of rosemary syrup.
STIR
and top with the sparkling wine.
garnish
and gulp!

Ombre White Chocolate Cherries / Recipe by Style Me Pretty

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh cherries
22oz Ghiradelli white chocolate chips
Pink & red food coloring

Instructions:

1. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Rinse cherries & pat dry. Split the chocolate chips into 4 small bowls.

2. Put a pot of water on medium heat until it is simmering. Place a metal bowl on top and pour in one bowl of white chocolate chips. Let heat for 2-3 minutes, and when the chocolate starts to glisten, stir continuously until chocolate is melted and smooth.
Remove from heat immediately and pour back into small bowl.

3. Add a small amount of food coloring (this will be your palest color) and stir thoroughly. Holding the cherries by the stem, dip them into the chocolate one at a time, and place onto the baking sheet to set.

4. Repeat with the other 3 bowls of chocolate, adding progressively more food coloring to each bowl. Put the baking sheet of cherries into the fridge to cool.

Pink Champagne Heart Shaped Jello Shots / Recipe by: That's So Michelle

Ingredients:

1 bottle pink champagne (3 cups)
1 cup Amaretto
4 envelops Knox gelatin
4 tablespoons sugar
1 drop pink or red food coloring
1 heart shaped (or any shape you like) mini cookie or fondant cutter

Instructions:

Pour 2 cups pink champagne in a medium sized sauce pan (no heat yet) sprinkle on your 4 envelopes of Knox. Let sit for 2 minutes letting the gelatin activate. Turn on medium heat and stir with a fork or whisk until the gelatin dissolves. Add 4 tablespoons sugar. Whisk until dissolved. Turn down the heat to a simmer.
Spray a 9″ x 13″ brownie pan with cooking spray.
In a separate bowl pour 1 cup Amaretto and 1 cup pink champagne. Add a drop of pink or red food coloring so you don’t lose the pretty pink champagne color. Add Amaretto mix to you your hot champagne mix and then add to brownie pan. (4 cups total)
Refrigerated overnight. Slowly and carefully (with a heart shaped cookie cutter) remove your heart shaped jello shots. Refrigerated until serving.

Peach Rose Lemonade / Recipe by: Mountainside Bride

Ingredients:

3 cups white peaches, chopped into pieces
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice (from about 7 lemons)
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons rose water

Instructions:

Place chopped peaches, water and sugar in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat
Allow to cool down, about 20 minutes
Set aside to cool slightly, then run through a blender until pureed
Pour peach mixture through a fine sieve and place in refrigerator until chilled
Meanwhile, squeeze juice from lemons.
Once peach mixture has chilled in a pitcher combine with lemon juice and rose water
Serve chilled

Orange Sherbert Cake / Recipe by: DesignLoveFest

Ingredients:

• Cake mix (one box for a 6 inch baking pan)
• Frosting (two containers)
• Food coloring (red and yellow)
• Fresh oranges (enough to make a cups worth of juice)

Instructions:

• Use your favorite white or yellow cake mix and substitute water with fresh squeezed orange juice. *Helpful hint: Using pre packaged juice will prevent your cake from rising to its true potential. So use the fresh stuff for the right texture. I baked the cake in 6″ rounds and made four layers but you could do more or less depending on your needs.

• After following the baking instructions on your mix, make sure to use a tooth pick to see if your cake is all the way cooked through. If you are making multiple layers have the cakes cool off completely before proceeding to the next step. It makes for easy assembling and icing. I like to keep them cool in the fridge overnight for easy assembly the next day.

• Cut off the top of the cake to even it out and put white frosting in between the layers and the top of the cake. Then make two small batches of icing in the colors you want to use for the outside. In this case its orange and pink in a light pastel color. A little bit of food coloring goes a long way! Just one drop of red and two of yellow will make orange, and two drops of red and one of yellow makes pink. Stir until the color is even.

• With a piping bag and frosting tip ice layers of frosting around the cake using the colors you pre made, using the pink at the bottom, orange in the middle and white frosting on the tops of the cake. Using an offset spatula even out all the frosting until you get a desirable blend of the colors. If you miss a spot make sure to clean your tools completely before going over a previous portion of the cake.

• The end result is a creamy fluffy cake with the hint of orange perfect for the citrus season we all love.

Rose Raspberry & Mint Fizz / Recipe by: Sainsbury's Magazine

Ingredients:

24-36 raspberries
a few sprigs of mint
1 lemon, zest only
750ml Fairtrade Moscato Rosé or sparkling Pinot Rosé, chilled

Instructions:

Chill six champagne glasses
Add the following to each: 2-3 raspberries, 1 mint leaf, and 1 tiny sliver of lemon zest
Carefully pop the cork of a 750ml bottle of chilled moscato rose or sparkling pinot rose
Pour slowly into each glass

Sips and Sweets

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