This Valentine’s Day we’ve got your cheat-sheet to surprise your sweetie-pie! These recipes are easy and delicious with a made-from-scratch taste but without all the work! The secret ingredient of course, is love – don’t be shy with it!
Surprise your significant other from sunrise to sunset with a breakfast in bed, lover’s lunch, and a decadent dinner date with delicious chocolate covered popcorn to munch in the evening (maybe with a good action flick or rom-com). All paired, of course, with unique cocktails to toast to your love. And if you’re single? Well we say that’s even better – more for you and no need to share!
BREAKFAST IN BED
Chocolate Raspberry Pancakes with Boozy Jam
No need to get out your measuring cups for these pancakes and you can also leave your flour in the cupboard! These delicious pancakes are packed with protein and made even more delicious with chocolate, fruit, sweet butter brulée and some of our favorite boozy jams!
ProCakes Pancakes Inspired by Joy the Baker
Ingredients
We replaced the traditional pancakes recipe with ProCakes Pancake Mix
1 egg
1/3 to 1/2 cup of 2% milk
1/3 cup Apotheker’s Kitchen Cherry & Almond Chocolate
1/2 cup Fresh raspberries
Directions
Mix the ProCakes Pancake Mix, egg, and milk together (easy!).
Cut the Apotheker’s chocolate bar into half inch cubes.
Wash and rinse raspberries, coarsely chopping them.
Mix chocolate and raspberries into the batter.
Prepare the batter in a waffle maker (if you want waffles) or put the batter into a Ziploc bag, cut off one of the corners, and squeeze the batter out into heart shapes on griddle or pan. It’s okay if they’re not perfect, the imperfections will be prove you made them yourself!
Kick your cakes up a notch:
Serve with boozy jams like Copper Pot & Wooden Spoon’s Spiced Apple & Beer Jam, or The Jam Stand’s Drunken Monkey & Bourbon Blueberry jam!
Top with Distinctive Taste’s Butter Brulée – Flavors include Rum Raisin, Pumpkin Maple & vanilla almond.
Cover with Jam Lab’s Strawberry and Chocolate Jam
Morning Coffee/Tea
Sweeten your morning cup of tea or coffee with a Stroopie on top! The stroopwafel is a famous Dutch delight! It is a cinnamon cookie made in a waffle press with a home-made caramel sauce. The steam from your morning cup will melt the caramel inside to make the perfect ooey-gooey treat.
Raspberry Mimosa by Krystal’s Kitsch
Ingredients
Orange Juice
Champagne or Sparkling Wine
Royal Rose Raspberry Syrup
Directions
Add equal parts champagne and orange juice to a glass.
Pour in a splash of Royal Rose.
Serve and enjoy.
LOVER’S LUNCH
Chocolate Chipotle Chicken & Heart Shaped Roasted Potatoes
This will your cutest Valentine’s Day lunch EVER with chocolate incorporated into every-single-bite!
Chocolate Chipotle Chicken by Kitchen Scoop
Ingredients
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds), defrosted if frozen*
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoons Bondat Food’s Chocolate Chipotle Rub
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Olivelle Chocolate Espresso Balsamic
Directions
Put the chicken in a gallon-size, zipper-top plastic bag. Add the oil to the bag, seal it, and toss and turn the chicken pieces inside the bag until they are well coated.
Mix all of the spices in a small bowl. Add the spice mixture to the bag, seal it, and toss and rub the chicken through the bag to coat well with the spices. Refrigerate the chicken in the bag for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.
Heat a grill to about 400 degrees F. Grill 5 to 6 minutes per side, until the chicken is cooked through but still tender. Remove from the grill, drizzle with chocolate espresso balsamic and serve.
Heart Shaped Roasted Potatoes by Haniela’s
Ingredients
6 large potatoes (about 2 pounds for 4 servings)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 to 2 tsp Gustus Vitae Hungarian Paprika Salt
freshly ground pepper
2 tsp caraway seeds
Olivelle Chocolate Espresso Balsamic
Directions
Preheat oven to 400F.
Line baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray with non-stick spray or brush with oil.
Fill a pot with about 1 quart – 2 quarts of water, add 1 tablespoon salt, bring to boil, then reduce heat to gentle simmer.
In the meantime peel potatoes, slice them, using a small metal cookie cutter cut out as many hearts as you can. If you get tired of cutting out hearts, you can make half of them cubes. Reserve scraps in water, you can also par-cook scraps or make mashed potatoes.
Cook potatoes in simmering water for 3 minutes, drain potatoes and let cool slightly.
Combine all the ingredients for the marinade : olive oil, Hungarian salt, caraway seed, and pepper.
Pour marinade over potatoes, stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
Spread marinaded potatoes evenly onto the baking sheet.
Roast them for 20-25 minutes, in halftime using an off set silicone spatula carefully turn the potatoes (don’t forget to use oven mittens when handling hot baking sheet!).
If your oven has a broiler, broil potatoes for additional 5 minutes or until they are golden on brown. Drizzle with chocolate espresso balsamic.
Fried Dough with Chocolate Sauce by Recipe Realism
Ingredients
At The Table Together Pizza Dough Mix
Canola oil
Confectioners’ sugar
Chocolate Sauce:
1 Apotheker’s Dark Chocolate Bar
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Directions
Prepare the dough according to the package instructions.
Tear the dough into 16 pieces.
In a skillet, fry in ½” of canola oil over medium heat until golden brown and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.
Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve with chocolate sauce.
Chocolate Sauce:
Break up the chocolate into smaller pieces so it will melt faster.
Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the chocolate, stirring, until it’s melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Eat hot or cold.
Cherry Vanilla Splash by Smirnoff
Ingredients
1.5 fl. oz. of vanilla flavored vodka
1 fl. oz. lemonade
0.75 fl. oz. cherry syrup
0.25 fl. oz. lime juice
1 dash of Hella Bitter
1 splash of soda water
Directions
In an ice-filled shaker add the first five ingredients. Shake well and strain into an ice filled glass. Top with soda water.
DINNER DATE
Cherry Dessert Pizza & Chocolate Covered Popcorn
What’ better than pizza? Dessert pizza! It’s sweet and substantial, and perfect for Valentine’s Day – not just because of its pink color, but because you’ll love it almost as much as the person you’re sharing it with!
Cherry Dessert Pizza by Copy Kat and Taste of Home
Ingredients
EASY:
At the Table Together Pizza Dough Mix
1 can cherry pie filling (20 oz)
1/4 cup slivered almonds
MEDIUM: add crumb topping
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon brown Sugar
1/4 cup softened Butter
1/8 teaspoon salt
EXPERT: add cream cheese layer
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
EASY:
Make pizza dough according to recipe on package.
Spread pizza dough on greased pizza pant and prick with a fork 8 – 10 times.
Place in preheated oven at 450 degrees for 10 -15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove pizza dough from oven and spread with cherry pie filling. Top with almonds.
MEDIUM:
Follow all previous steps, but in step 3 place pizza dough in oven for 5 minutes. Spread with cherry pie filling.
Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of crumb topping and almonds and place back into oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Remove pizza when dough is golden brown.
EXPERT:
Prepare pizza dough as directed. While waiting for pizza dough to rise, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Bake only pizza dough at 350° for 10-15 minutes, until edges are gold.
Spread cream cheese mixture over crust. Bake 10 minutes longer. Cool.
Spread pie filling on top and top with almonds.
Chocolate Covered Popcorn by Gimme Some Oven
Ingredients
Popcorn, popped
1 Apotheker’s Dark Chocolate Bar
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
Pink, Red and White Sprinkles
Candy Hearts (optional)
Directions
Break up chocolate bar into a medium bowl. Add in vegetable oil.
Place in microwave for 10 seconds, then for 5 second increments, stirring in between, until melted.
Place popcorn on a baking sheet covered with foil. Drizzle melted chocolate onto popcorn, and immediately sprinkle the popcorn with sprinkles and candy hearts. Let cool. Enjoy!
English Rose Cocktail by Mix that Drink
Ingredients
3/4 ounce apricot brandy
1 1/2 ounces gin
3/4 ounce dry vermouth
1 teaspoon Liber & Co. Grenadine
1/4 teaspoons lemon juice
Directions
Rim a cocktail glass with sugar. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add all ingredients. Shake well and strain into the glass Garnish with a cherry.
SWEET AND EASY – DESSERT!
If all else fails, these two desserts are perfect to make together with your significant other and super delicious! Colorful cookies with all the dry ingredients already measured out, and not your typical, run of the mill s’mores that have everything you need in a cute kit!
Heart Shaped Mason Jar Cookies
Ingredients
Your favorite Mason Jar Cookie Mix
Pink, red and white sprinkles, ideally heart shaped
Directions
Prepare cookies as directed, and add in as many extra sprinkles as you want.
Eat just the cookie dough, or roll out dough to be 3/4 inch thick. Take a heart shaped cookie cutter and cut out hearts. Bake and enjoy!
For some tips and tricks on making these delicious cookies, head over to Mountain Side Bride. Her pictures do not show the updated packaging, but they still have the same delicious flavor!
Gourmet S’mores
Ingredients
Madyson’s Marshmallows S’mores Kit
Fire
Directions
Open your heavenly s’mores kit and follow instructions.
Eat, get messy, and repeat!
Lavender Bellini by Aida Mollenkamp
Ingredients
Lavender simple syrup
Chilled Champagne or sparkling wine
Chilled fresh peach juice
Directions
Add 1 tablespoon lavender simple syrup to a champagne flute. Pour in champagne and top with peach juice. (I typically do one part champagne to one part peach juice but you can create based on your own taste)