Caramel and Coconut Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 cup caramels
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, in pieces
360 g chocolate chips
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Preparing:

Preheat oven to 180ºC (360ºF).

Mix flour with the baking powder and salt.

Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips with butter in the microwave.
Add the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla and beat well.
Add the flour mixture, coconut, caramels and the rest of the chocolate chips.

Place portions of 1 tbsp mass separated in a greased tray.
Bake for 20 minutes.

Watermelon Mousse

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup mashed watermelon
1/2 litre sour milk
100 g sugar
4 sheets unflavored gelatin
2 egg whites
Cold water

Preparing:

Soak gelatin in cold water.

Cook sugar with a bit of watermelon purée until it forms a syrup.
Add soaked gelatin when boil.
Add the remaining watermelon purée and mix well.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Add to the watermelon mix carefully.
Pour the mixture into cups and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Stone Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

4 apricots, halved and thinly sliced
4 nectarines, halved and thinly sliced
4 peaches, halved and thinly sliced
4 plums, halved and thinly sliced
125 g mascarpone
2 tbsp apricot juice
1 tsp brown sugar

Preparing:

Mix the fruit together.
Drizzle with apricot juice.

Mix the mascarpone and brown sugar and serve with the salad.

Watermelon Sorbet

Ingredients:

2 cups watermelon, diced and seedless
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cranberry juice
1 envelope unflavored gelatin

Preparing:

Process watermelon cubes with sugar until get an homogeneous mixture.

Soak gelatin in cranberry juice for 5 minutes.
Dissolve the mixture to low heat and add the watermelon mixture.
Pour on a pyrex, cover and freeze for 2 hours.

Break the mixture and blend in average speed until smooth.
Put back into the pyrex, cover and freeze for 6 more hours.

Strawberries in Orange Syrup

Ingredients:

500 g strawberries
2 oranges, their juice
1/2 cup sugar
Vanilla Ice Cream

Preparing:

Mix sugar in a pot with orange juice until dissolved.
Remove from heat when it comes to the boil and add strawberries.
Let stand for 10 minutes.

Serve with ice cream.

Orange and Carrot Jelly

Ingredients:

1/2 liter water
2 oranges, into gores
1 orange flavor gelatine envelope

Carrot Jelly:
2 cups milk
1 cup pineapple juice
250 g cream cheese
200 g sugar
200 g grated carrot
150 g cream
40 g unflavored gelatin

Preparing:

Bring to the boil a litre of water, add the orange gelatin and stir well to dissolve.
Allow to cool and pour 1 cm from the mixture over a mold.
Place orange gores on the bottom, wait for about 10 minutes and pour the remaining gelatine.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Moist unflavored gelatin in 1 cup of milk.
Heat the remaining milk along with sugar, cream cheese and cream and mix well.
Remove from heat when it starts to boil.

Allow to cool and add moisted gelatin, mixing well to dissolve.
Add the grated carrot and pineapple juice.

Pour the mixture over the orange gelatine and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Strawberry Tiramisu

Ingredients:

500 sliced strawberries
250 cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
24 Lady fingers

Preparing:

Liquefy half of the strawberries.
Whisk together cream cheese with the cream until get an homogeneous consistency.
Add strawberry purée and stir.

Pour a layer of the mix in the bottom of a glass.
Place a layer of lady fingers and above one of the rest of the sliced strawberries.
Repeat this process often necessary.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Chocolate Amaretto Valentine's Marquise

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup almonds, toasted and finley chopped
8 Amaretti cookies, finely crushed
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped
5 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
5 tbsp corn syrup
Cocoa powder

Preparing:

Combine the crushed Amaretti cookies and the chopped almonds.
Sprinkle onto a greased mould with baking parchment oil.

Simmer the chocolate, Amaretto and corn syrup, until the chocolate is melted.
Remove from heat, and set aside for 8 minutes.

Whip the cream, and fold into the chocolate mixture.
Pour into the mould, cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
Unmould and dust it with cocoa powder.

Valentine's Chocolate Brownie Cake with Strawberries

Ingredients:

1 mixture prepared for brownies, plus ingredients you need
2 cups strawberries, cut by half
2 cups whipped cream, chantillí
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
1/3 cup strawberry jam
1/4 tsp almond extract

Preparing:

Prepare brownie according to the instructions.
Allow to cool and cut in half horizonthally.

Whisk strawberry jam.
Beat whipped cream with almond extract.

Spread one half of the brownie with strawberry jam and half of whipped cream.
Place the other half of the brownie on top.
Spread the remaining whipped cream and garnish with strawberries.
Bathe with chocolate syrup and serve.

Valentine's Chocolate Heart Cake

Ingredients:

1 recipe One-mix chocolate sponge mixture, plus the ingredients it needs
1 recipe chocolate buttercream or ganache
Confectioners sugar
Fresh raspberries and chocolate curls, to decorate

Preparing:

Preheat oven to 160ºC (320ºF).

Prepare the cake according to the instruccions.
Pour on a greased heart-shaped cake and bake for 30 minutes.

Cut the cake in half horizonthally.
Fill the cake with about one-third of the buttercream a top with the othe half.
Cover the cake with the remaining buttercream.

Decorate with chocolate curls and raspberries.
Dust with a little confectioners sugar.

Valentine's Dark Chocolate Ravioli with White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tbsp confectioners sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large eggs
Salt

Filling:
3 cups cream cheese
6 ounces white chocolate, chopped
1 egg, plus 1 beaten egg to seal

Preparing:

Sift flour with cocoa and sugar onto a work surface.
Make a well and pour the eggs and olive oil.
Combine with your finger and knead until smooth.
Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

Melt white chocolate and allow to cool.
Beat the cream cheese, then add the chocolate and egg.
Spoon into a pipping bag.

Cut the dough in a half and wrap one portion in plastic wrap.
Roll the pasta out thinly into a rectangle on a lightly floured surface.
Cut into rounds with a serrated ravioli cutter.
Pipe small 1-teaspoon mound of filling in half ravioli, brush the spaces of dough between the mounds with beaten egg and top with another ravioli.

Transfer to a floured dish towel and let dry for 1 hour.
Bring a frying pan of water to the boil and add the ravioli and simmer for 5 minutes.

Valentine's Strawberries with Chocolate

Ingredients:

600 g strawberries
75 g dark chocolate
75 g white chocolate
Pistachios, chopped
Grated coconut

Preparing:

Melt each chocolate separately in water bath.
Dip a portion of the strawberries in chocolate.
Sprinkle with pistachios and coconut.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes

Valentine's Double Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

250 g white chocolate, melted
90 g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
15 g unsalted butter
1 cup whipped cream
2 eggs

Preparing:

Cut some freezer wrap into six 16cm squares.
Spread 6 circles of white chocolate onto the squares.
Drap each piece over the rim of a glass with chocolate-side-up.
when set, peel away the wrap and refrigerate.

Melt dark chocolate with butter in water bath or in the microwave, stirring constantly.
Whisk in the egg yolks and allow to cool.
Fold in half the whipped cream.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and fold lightly into the mousse.
Fold in the remaining whipped cream, spoon the mousse into the white chocolate cups and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Caramel and Nuts Valentine's Brownies

Ingredients:

420 g caramels
360 g chocolate chips
120 g dark chocolate, chopped
2 cups sugar
2 cups chopped nuts
1 cup flour
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup cream
4 eggs

Preparing:

Preheat oven to 180ºC (360ºF).

Melt the chocolate with butter in the microwave.
Add sugar, eggs and flour.
Pour the mixture on a greased mould and bake for 20 minutes.

Melt caramels with the cream in the microwave.
Add 1 cup nuts.

Pour the mixture over the partially baked brownie.
Spread the chocolate chips and finally cover with remaining brownie mixture.
Sprinkle with nuts and remaining chocolate chips and bake for 30 more minutes.

Chocolate and Strawberries Valentine's Shortbreads

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 cup cream, whipped
3/4 cup icing sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
250 g strawberries, quartered
225 g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence

Berry Sauce:
250 g strawberries, thawed
1 tbsp caster sugar

Preparing:

Preheat the oven to 210ºC (415ºF).

Sift the flour, cocoa and icing sugar.
Rub in the butter, using your fingertips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the yolks and vanilla and mix with a knife until the mixture comes together.

Turn onto a lightly floured surface and gather together into a ball.
Roll the pastry into between two layer of baking paper to 5 mm thick.
Cut with a round cutter, place the rounds in trays with baking paper and bake for 8 minutes.

Place a biscuit on a serving plate, top with whipped cream and strawberries.
Top with a second biscuit, cream, strawberries and a third biscuit.

Process the strawberries and sugar until smooth and stir in 2 tbsp water.
Serve with the shortbreads.

Chocolate Chips Valentines Pancakes with Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup cream
1 cup milk
3/4 cup dark chocolate bits (drops)
1/4 cup caster sugar
30 g unsalted butter, melted
3 egg whites
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Hot fudge sauce:
150 g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
30 g unsalted butter
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup cream
2 tbsp light corn syrup

Preparing:

Sift the flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda.
Stir in the sugar and chocolate bits and make a well in the center.

Whisk together the milk, cream, eggs and melted butter.
Pour the mixture into the well and stir until just combined.
Cover and set aside for 15 minutes.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
Fold into the chocolate mixture.

Cook all the ingredients of the hot fudge sauce in a pan and stir over low heat until melted and smooth.

Cook the pancakes in a frying pan with melted butter or oil.
Transfer to a plate a serve with the hot fudge suace.