Eat Your Heart Out: A Galentine's Day Brunch

I am lucky enough to have some gals in my life that I really adore. So this Valentine's Day, I thought I'd show them some serious love by crafting an amazing celebration. I scoured the internets and discovered someone had coined the term Galentine's Day. Who was this genius? I totally approve.

I invited the ladies over for a little coffee and donuts on Saturday morning. Okay. I confess. I'm me. So it was more than coffee and donuts. What can I say—I'm not the understated kind.

I had a tremendous amount of fun with the decor for this brunch. I splurged on a marquee sign and stocked up on plenty of roses. Those hearts on the wall are actually made out of felt and individually decorated with all the words for love in various languages. Don't get too impressed though. I made those five years ago for a bulletin board at my kid's school and I drag them out every Valentine's Day. Cause if you are going to spend two consecutive nights with a hot glue gun and a lot of swearing, it ought to be for something you can get some serious mileage out of.

This was our menu. Maybe it looks elaborate, but don't be fooled. It was one of the easiest parties I've ever thrown in terms of food preparation.

The trick to making an incredible menu? A healthy diet of nouns. I tried to focus on items I could make ahead of time and that would stand up well to hanging out on the buffet table for a few hours. Because I know my friends. And we are all about the coffee and the chatting. If we can't stuff it into one side of our mouth and talk out the other, it's not edible. Socializing is serious shit, am I right?

We started off with a few finger food appetizers. Smoked salmon and radish deviled eggs accompanied by candied walnut bacon. That's right- I said candy bacon.

Stop drooling on your keyboard and go make some. All of the recipes for our Galentine's Day brunch are available by clicking the caption under the picture or by visiting the links at the end of the post.

 

The watermelon berry fruit salad was almost too adorable to eat. Yes, that's watermelon and strawberries in the shape of hearts. You just need cookie cutters and an utter disregard for making a tremendous mess. Fortunately, I've got that covered. I also threw together some raspberry yogurt parfaits in plastic wine glasses. So easy and well worth the effort because—pretty!

 

Next up on the menu was everyone's favorite—the Chocolate Cardamom Donuts with Plum Glaze. These were mini donuts so I was able to justify eating at least half a dozen.

They were soft and dense with buttermilk and laced with bittersweet hints of coffee and dark chocolate. I rounded out the sweets with Strawberry Ricotta Toast drizzled with honey and topped with chopped pistachios.

This was a respectable lady brunch, so of course we had to pop the top and have some mimosas. We went with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, Prosecco and simple syrup garnished with frozen raspberries and fresh sprigs of mint.

 

These were pretty delightful. I actually put down my coffee cup long enough to drink two. I think that pretty much speaks for itself. Before my lovelies departed, I smuggled gorgeous pink peppercorn macarons into their pockets.

This was my first attempt at the infamously delicate meringues. Mine ended up a bit crackled topped and sticky, which lets me know I have some work to do. The best kind of work that involves my warm kitchen, a lot of sugar and quite a bit of discrete licking.

Happy Galentine's Day to my nearest and dearest clan of fierce women, who inspire me to create and make the world a more beautiful place. I hope you spent Valentine's Day celebrating your passions, friends. Until next time—eat your heart out!

 
PartiesKaz WeidaGalentine, Valentine's Day, baking, party, recipes, seasonalComment