Budget Friendly Valentine’s Day Dessert Recipes
By Stephanie, February 7, 2012, Events, Food & Dining Out
Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching!
We’ve already given you some helpful tips and recipes in our previous post featuring budget friendly dinner ideas that will wow your Valentine without breaking the bank. But, let’s not forget dessert! You can’t end a romantic homemade dinner without making an amazing homemade dessert! We tend to associate something rich and chocolately with dessert on Valentine’s Day, and while these chocolate confections seem like they cost a fortune to make, many are actually quite cheap and affordable for everyone to prepare. If it’s in your budget, you certainly purchase a high quality chocolate for most of these dessert recipes, but you can usually find a cheaper, in-house brand that still tastes great in most stores these days.
Here are a few classic recipes to get you started on planning the perfect Valentine’s Day dessert for your impressive homemade dinner for your Valentine without breaking your budget. No matter which recipe you choose, your significant other is going to feel incredibly loved this February 14th.
Chocolate covered strawberries are a quintessential Valentine’s Day treat, but ave you ever checked the price tag for the ones made at stores? They certainly don’t have any qualms about marking up the price on them as Valentine’s Day approaches! For easily half the price, you can make an entire pint of chocolate covered strawberries at home. You can also experiment with different toppings like chopped nuts, drizzled white and dark chocolate, or chopped-up candy. The recipe below even offers a cute tuxedo design you can use to dress up your chocolate-covered strawberries.
Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
(Recipe courtesy of Chow.com )
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 pints large whole strawberries, stems attached, washed and completely dried
- 1 1/2 pounds white chocolate, finely chopped, for making strawberry tuxedos (optional)
Directions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper; set aside.
- Place the dark chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a saucepan containing an inch of barely simmering water. (But make sure the bowl does not touch the water.) Stir constantly until melted.
- Holding the strawberries by their stems, dip them one by one in the chocolate, letting any excess drip off and placing them on the prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened, about 20 minutes.
- To make strawberry tuxedos: First melt the white chocolate as directed in step 2. Dip the strawberries in the white chocolate and place them on the lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until the chocolate has hardened, about 30 minutes.
- Line a second baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Melt the dark chocolate in a separate bowl. Holding the white-chocolate-covered strawberries at a 45-degree angle, dip one side into the dark chocolate, then dip the opposite side into the dark chocolate, forming a “V” or heart-shaped jacket. Place the strawberries on the second baking sheet and refrigerate until the dark chocolate has hardened.
- Transfer a small amount of the melted dark chocolate to a small resealable plastic bag. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag. Remove the tuxedos from the fridge and pipe three chocolate buttons on the white “shirt” of the strawberries. Refrigerate again to harden
Another Valentine’s Day classic you can try is chocolate fondue. Maybe you picked up a nice fondue pot at a garage sale or your parents might have one stashed away in the attic you can use; but don’t fret too much, as you don’t need a fondue pot to make this dish. The only downside to not using a traditional fondue pot is that the chocolate won’t keep as warm as long, but that just means you’ll have to eat up all the tasty chocolate fondue quicker. Doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice now, does it? You don’t need the special long fondue forks either – just use toothpicks, skewer sticks, or regular forks. A great addition to the chocolate would be to create a nice plate of things to dip in the fondue. Great options include cut-up fruit (strawberries, bananas, and pineapple are a good starting point), cubes of pound cake, angel food cake, or use whole cookies. The best part? You can make this dessert as decadent as you want.
Chocolate Fondue
(Recipe courtesy of SimplyRecipes.com )
Ingredients
- 12 ounces of dark chocolate (chips or roughly chopped if from a block)
- 8 ounces of heavy cream
- A pinch of salt
- Dippables such as strawberries, banana pieces cut into 1-inch chunks, dried apricots, candied ginger, apple pieces
Directions
- Warm the cream over moderate heat until tiny bubbles show and begins to lightly and slowly boil. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth and full incorporated.
- Immediately transfer to a fondue pot heated at low or with a low flame, or serve straight from the pot.
- Arrange the dippables on a platter or plates around the chocolate pot. Use a fondue fork, bamboo skewer, seafood fork, or salad fork to dip the fruit pieces and other dippables into the hot melted cream chocolate mixture. Eat immediately.
Want something simpler? How about brownies a la mode? Brownies are incredibly cheap to make, so this means you can budget for a premium ice cream (though any ol’ vanilla ice cream always seems to taste great on top of a warm brownie). This recipe is incredibly versatile, as you can add in your own special touches like chopped nuts or a swirl of fruit jam. Top your brownies with ice cream while they’re still warm for extra tastiness!
Hershey’s Best Brownies
(Recipe courtesy of Food.com)
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter or 1 cup margarine
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 3/4 cup cocoa
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Directions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease 13x9x2 inch baking pan.
- Melt butter in microwave.
- Stir in sugar and vanilla.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time.
- Add cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt; beat until well blended.
- Stir in nuts, if desired.
- Pour batter into pan.
- Bake 30-35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides.
- Cool completely.
(Photo by denisdervisevic)
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