CHOCOLATE LOVE RECIPES FOR YOUR VALENTINE’S DAY

Chocolate Almond Cream Pie is dessert made in heaven.  A tender and flavorful almond graham cracker crust holds a rich and chocolatey filling with a mild almond undertone.  The whipped-cream topping is spiked with almond liqueur and sprinkled with chocolate shavings.  It has my highest rating and will make any celebration memorable.

Banana Chocolate Cupcakes are easy to make.  You don’t even need to get your mixer out, because these are mixed like muffins, with one quick mix by hand.  Full of chocolate flavor, very light and moist, this one is a definite winner!

Chocolate Hazelnut Pudding  is silky smooth and creamy with a mild hazelnut flavor hiding under the chocolate. You can certainly dress this up with some lightly sweetened, whipped heavy cream that’s spiked with hazelnut liqueur.  You could even shave some dark chocolate or chopped toasted hazelnuts over the cream.  I chose to eat the pudding as is and savor every sweet, delicious mouthful.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies are fudgy, tender and flavorful, and hold a wonderfully light peanut butter-mallow filling that really steals the show.  These cookies are sweet, rich-tasting  and utterly delicious.

Chocolate Guinness Cake is everything you ever wanted in a chocolate cake.  The ale bumps up the chocolate flavor and delivers moistness as well.  This is one cake you’ll remember for a long time.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are moist, chocolatey, flavorful and even have fiber and some food value.   One muffin will definitely fix your chocolate craving, and you won't blow all your calories.  They have my highest rating and they don’t taste healthy!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Icing are sure to please almost everyone.  Moist, tender, velvety and not-too-sweet chocolate cupcakes are topped with fluffy peanut butter frosting.  Buttermilk and sour cream make the cupcakes tender and moist; coffee and brown sugar enhance the chocolate flavor; and the peanut butter icing is creamy, sweet and delicious.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip-Heath Bits Cookies are delicious cookies with a nice peanut-butter flavor.  The pecans and semisweet chocolate chips tone down the almost cloying sweetness of the Heath bits.  Just enough crunch, just enough sweetness.  With crispy edges and insides that are soft and almost chewy, these are sure to become a favorite.

100% Whole Wheat Chocolate Cupcakes with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting are light and moist.  And no one is the wiser…..unless you tell them.  You can make these even healthier by using a sugar substitute and nonfat Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.

Nutella Mascarpone Cheesecake with Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust  is a rich, creamy, firm, New York-style cheesecake that delivers a subtle Nutella flavor from Nutella that is spread over the cooled crust before adding the cheesecake filling.  The filling, itself, has hazelnut liqueur added, and the cheesecake can be topped with shaved chocolate or more Nutella.  Either way, it’s absolutely delicious.
Lava Rocks are chocolatey, chewy delicious little morsels that are also low-fat.

Happy Valentine’s Day, y’all