Making candy for your sweetheart this Valentine's Day might be easier than you think - and it might be a personalized alternative to store-bought chocolates. Pictured are a variety of chocolates made by Lawrence resident Donna Miller.

Marlene LeInmiller has several tips for making home-made chocolates, like these peanut butter-filled chocolates.

Marlene Leinmiller has several tips for making homemade chocolates. Among them, she recommends using high-quality chocolate made from cocoa beans rather than powder.

A box of chocolates? Red roses? Jewelry?

All of the above?

When Valentine’s Day rolls around, lovers have plenty of choices, from the perfect (and perfectly cheap) card to sparklers weighing in at a couple of carats.

But what if you want to make something for your special someone instead of just making credit card payments in remembrance of what you bought? What if you want to create something for your sweetie straight from your heart?

You could make a card, but it might seem a bit bare by itself. You could grow your own flowers, but this time of year, you’re probably out of luck – unless the recipient would like a head of decorative cabbage.

But what about making your own chocolates? With the right tools and a little love, you can make professional-looking chocolates for your valentine, says Marlene Leinmiller.

Easier than it used to be

Leinmiller has been making her own candies since 1976 and teaching the art in classes just as long at the store she owns with husband George, George’s Hobby House, 1411 W. 23rd St., Suite B. She says improvements in chocolate technology have made it easy for anyone to make professional-looking candies using molds and equipment found in any basic dorm room – a fridge and a microwave.

“They’re all so easy to mold. It used to be very difficult because the chocolate came in great big slabs – 10-pound slabs – and you had to break it off. It’s come a long way since then,” Leinmiller says. “Companies now do the little candy discs, so they’re easy to melt them in the microwave. You melt them for a few seconds, coat your mold. And if you have your filling made, you put it in and cover it with chocolate, pop it in the refrigerator for five minutes or so, and you’ve got it made. Pop it out, and you’re done.”

Everything from chocolate-covered cherries to chocolate peanut butter cups to mint patties can be made with this method. Does she like caramel? Try caramel cups. Does he like coconut? Mounds-like coconut-filled chocolate candies are easy to create as well.

And with a variety of types of chocolate – including milk and dark – and with a variety of shapes of molds to choose from, you can personalize your candy for your loved one.

Ins and outs of chocolate

Genny Hunsinger, of Lawrence, has created homemade candies since taking a two-day course taught decades ago by a man from the candy-coating company of choice for both women – The Candyman in Lathrop, Mo. Later, she gave her own candy-making demonstrations at the Douglas County Extension Office.

Hunsinger agrees that the newer advances in a type of chocolate – what Candyman calls a “summer coating” – make candy-making much easier than before.

“The reason this summer coating is so good is if it gets a little hard on you, all you have to do is toss it back on the heat – and it does get to where you can’t keep melting it over and over and over,” Hunsinger says. “Nestle’s chocolate bits or something, once it starts to get hard on you, you can’t do anything.”

Leinmiller says while the melt-ability is a definite plus, to create truly heart-shape-box worthy chocolates, the quality of the chocolate is of the most importance. Don’t use the cheap stuff unless you want your candies to look cheap.

“(You want) the high quality of chocolate made from the cocoa bean rather than powder. That’s what gives it a professional look,” Leinmiller says. “The one we particularly use is made from the heart of the bean, not the just cocoa.”

For those wanting to brave the world of candy-making just for Thursday’s holiday, or for year-round sweet treats, Leinmiller says the extra effort will be well worth it – worth much more than whatever you can pay for.

“It used to be if you didn’t know what else to do, you’d go buy a box of chocolates – they were inexpensive,” Leinmiller says. “But now if you make your own candy you’re giving something of yourself, and it’s fun to do.

“It’s satisfying that you can do it and give it somebody.”