The Chocolate Holiday is almost here !!

Forget sentimental cards, diamond earrings and bouquets of roses... Valentine's Day is all about chocolate !!

This year I decided to experiment with the chocolate bark I blogged about two years ago.
Instead of one big round, I made it into individual disks studded with nuts and bits of dried fruit.
It's so very simple,  quick to make and they look beautiful.

I also tried to make some in my silicone baking cups with shredded coconut on the bottom and almonds on top.

It was marginally successful...I wished I had been a little more aggressive about mixing the melted chocolate with the coconut.

I tried the same trick with the disks on the parchment.

With similar results...

I am sure they will all taste delicious !!
I used a mix of two dark chocolates, I find the quality of these bars great for this kind of confection.

Since our microwave oven is broken, I melted my chocolate the old fashioned way, in a double boiler. It is slower, requiring more patient ;-) but does the job, it's best not to let the water boil.

Use your imagination, customize each one, have fun !!

Here are a few other wonderful chocolate desserts to try.

Flour-less chocolate cake

Very Very Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache ( vegan)

The Most Amazing Chocolate Ice Cream

Chocolate Lava Cakes

Easy Brownies

Chocolate Walnut Cookies

Divine Brownies

Chocolate Sorbet

Chocolate Cupcakes and more...

I recently made these  chocolate cupcakes for my sister-in-law and a house full of game playing family. They were such a hit, she suggested I post about them again.

If you haven't already come up with a chocolate dessert for tonight, these are very easy and tasty.
You can frost them with a simple chocolate ganache or get fancy like I did in the photo above.
 (Don't tell anyone, but they are dairy free and vegan.)

Or if you have the time and the inclination here are a bunch of other chocolate desserts you can try.

This flourless chocolate cake is dense, decadent and requires only six common ingredients.

Or these super easy brownies that I discovered last year.

Hope you get your chocolate in some form today !!
Happy Valentine's Day !!

Chocolate Walnut Cookies

Chocolate Walnut Cookies

These are very simple to make and very tasty, like a brownie in cookie form. This recipe is adapted from one I found in the holiday cookie addition of On Fine Cooking.

My sister always requests these cookies whenever she wins reward in the Survivor game I run. Yes, I am a fan of the reality TV show Survivor ;-) For the past few years I have run an email game, sending out questions each week, usually about a dozen friends and family play. And yes, they can win cookies!!

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line two cookie sheets with parchment. 

Have I mentioned how much I love parchment ?? It's the best for baking just about anything. It also makes clean up so easy.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder ( NOT cocoa mix)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars until creamy.

Not creamy yet...

Beat in egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients.

Add at low speed to the wet mixture until just incorporated.

Mix in the walnuts.

Using a teaspoon, drop large dollops onto the cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. After 5 minutes switch the pans top to bottom racks, and rotate back to front.

The cookies puff up while baking then settle down as they cool.

Still puffy right out of the oven.

Starting to settle into their crinkly goodness.

Let them rest 5 minutes before moving them to a rack to cool.

They also are great used in ice cream sandwiches, but that's another whole post ;-)