Valentine’s Day is the holiday dedicated to love, celebrating friendships and giving, and with these three easy recipes I’ve gathered, you can make some delicious sweet treats to spread the love with your friends and family.
Begin the season with this delicious and classic dessert, molten chocolate lava cakes. With its extra gooey chocolate center, it is perfect for chocolate lovers.
Makes 2 lava cakes
You’ll need:
- 4 oz dark chocolate (chopped)
- 2 tbsp softened unsalted butter and more for greasing the tins
- 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules (optional, enhances the chocolate flavour)
- ⅛ tsp kosher salt
To begin, preheat the oven to 425 F. Next, butter the 2 custard cups or ramekins you’ll be using and add about a spoonful of sugar in each, ensuring to coat the entire cup with sugar. Remove any excess sugar. To melt the chocolate, microwave it in intervals of 30 seconds and stir in between until it is just melted. It should usually take about a minute to a minute and a half.
Next, cream the butter and the sugar in a mixer or bowl until combined. Add the egg and egg yolk until the mixture begins to look foamy and fluffy. Then, you’ll add the flour, salt and instant coffee. Once that is combined, add about ⅓ of the melted chocolate and stir. Then add the rest of the chocolate and fully mix. Divide the mixture between two ramekins and bake for 10-11 minutes, until they look partially baked (it is normal for them to look slightly underbaked). Let rest for 5 minutes; then flip the container upside down onto a plate and serve with fruit, whipped cream or ice cream.
You can’t go wrong with heart shaped sugar cookies, especially Valentine’s Day themed cookies with pink, red and white creative designs.
You’ll need:
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup confectioners sugar/powdered sugar
- ⅛ egg
- About 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- Red/pink food coloring
In a mixer or bowl, cream the sugar and butter until combined. Then add in the egg and vanilla. Once that is mixed, combine the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter. Knead the dough until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Saran wrap the cookie dough and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into three parts, leaving one portion slightly larger than the other two. Color one of the smaller portions pink and the other small portion red, leaving the largest portion uncolored/white. Roll out the white dough as your base – you’ll need it for applying the colored hearts onto. Separately, roll out the red and pink dough balls on a flat surface; then cut out hearts with a small cookie cutter. Apply the red and pink hearts in a pattern onto the white dough and roll out just until the dough is flat. Use a larger heart cookie cutter to cut out your cookies, and leave to chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.
While the cookie shapes are being cooled, preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake for around 7 minutes. Once the cookies are done, let them cool for a few minutes before enjoying or storing away.
Lastly, a fun, refreshing and very quick dessert recipe you can make is commonly known as a variation of Raspberry Fool, or also known as Cupid’s Cloud. A cold and fluffy dessert with raspberries and whipped cream.
Makes 5-6 servings
You’ll need:
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups frozen raspberries
- ½ cup sugar
First, you’ll need to whip the whipping cream, 1 tbsp sugar, and the vanilla extract until fluffy and put it aside for later. Next, you’ll blend the frozen raspberries and ½ cup of sugar together, preferably in a food processor but can also be done in a regular blender. Once blended, fold them into the whipping cream mixture you made earlier. Lastly, serve in your favorite dessert cups and top with fruit and enjoy! Refrigerate if needed.
Now you can spread some joy to your loved ones and impress them with your tasty Valentine’s themed snacks.
