What better excuse for a Chocolate Martini than Valentine’s Day?

We’re particularly fond of the Godiva Truffletini—so chocolaty that you can have it for dessert. It combines both the original chocolate and white chocolate Godiva liqueurs. But if you only want to buy one bottle, there are enough chocolate liqueur cocktail recipes to keep you mixing until next Valentine’ Day.

RECIPE: GODIVA CHOCOLATE TRUFFLETINI

Ingredients For 1 Cocktail

Preparation

1. COMBINE liqueurs and vodka in a cocktail shaker with ice.

2. SHAKE and strain into a pre-chilled Martini glass.

3. GARNISH and serve.
 
*Use chocolate syrup in a squeeze bottle to swirl a pattern onto the inside of the glass.

There is an entire family of delicious Godiva chocolate liqueurs:

 
HOW TO ENJOY GODIVA CHOCOLATE LIQUEUR

 
Time to get mixing!

If you have a heart-shaped muffin pan (mini cake pan), it’s easy to turn out heart-shaped brownies. And if you don’t, no problem: Turn a pan of brownies into a Valentine treat with your heart-shaped cookie cutters.

1. BAKE your favorite brownie recipe and cut into heart shapes. If you are using a small, shallow cookie cutter, you may wish to divide the batter into two pans, so the cutter will get through these “shorter” brownies.

2. SERVE plain, like cookies, or with ice cream (try strawberry!) or whipped cream.

3. FREEZE all the leftover brownie scraps and use them for ice cream, vanilla yogurt, pudding, etc.

When bagels are made, ropes of dough are twisted into the familiar circular shape.

So why not twist them into heart shapes?

That’s what the bagel makers at Einstein Bros. Bagels and Noah’s New York Bagels have done—and they’ve thrown in some dried cranberries to replace the raisins in a cinnamon-raisin bagel.

The love-worthy bagels are available at select locations through February 14th.

To go with your bagels, how about making cranberry, strawberry or raspberry cream cheese? Even if you only have conventional bagels, pink cream cheese will make your Valentine’s Day breakfast special.

Love thy cranberry bagel. Photo courtesy Einstein Bros.

RECIPE: STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until smooth and well blended.

2. REFRIGERATE until needed. Ideally make the day before to let flavors blend.
  

Thanks to BellaBaker.com for these fun Valentine Rice Krispie treats. Just grab your heart-shake cookie cutter, some red-striped straws and a box of Rice Krispies.

They’re sweet and sticky and oh so satisfying, and in the shape of a heart and stuck onto a striped straw, they’re a perfect addition to your V-day celebration.

RECIPE: VALENTINE RICE KRISPIE POPS

Ingredients

 
Plus

Preparation

1. MELT butter in a saucepan over low heat, then add in the marshmallows.

2. SPRAY a rubber spatula with nonstick cooking spray (to avoid marshmallows sticking to the spatula), then stir the marshmallows until melted. Add Rice Krispies and stir until cereal is well coated in marshmallow.

3. LIGHTLY SPRAY a 9″ x 13″ pan with nonstick spray, then turn the Rice Krispie mixture out into the pan. Press down with the palm of your hand to flatten the Rice Krispies evenly into the pan. Allow 15 minutes to cool.

4. CUT into heart shapes, then gently insert a striped straw into the base of each shape.
 
Decorating Options

1. CANDY MELTS. Melt candy melts in the microwave and then transfer to squeeze bottles. Decorate the Rice Krispie heart with various colors and patterns.

2. CINNAMON CANDIES or CHOCOLATE CHIPS. Sprinkle 1/4 cup cinnamon candies (like Red Hots) or mini chips atop the Rice Krispie mixture in the pan; then press down with palms to flatten.

GRATED VERSUS SHAVED CHOCOLATE

Grating tools have smaller holes and create bits of chocolate for garnish. Shavers have slits that produce strips and curls of chocolate.

For garnishing, gratings and shavings can often be used interchangeably. There are exceptions, like the traditional long chocolate shavings on a Black Forest Cake; but some pastry chefs use grated chocolate and even chocolate chips for the garnish.

And the same techniques can be used to grate cheese—you can garnish cupcakes and ravioli with the same tool, as well as coconut and vegetables and hard fruits, from apples, carrots and onions to zucchini.

Easy grating with a Microplane Gourmet Shaver. Photo courtesy Microplane.

In fact, experiment with what you own before buying something new. We’ve found that our classic Zyliss rotary-style cheese grater also grates chocolate, while our classic Microplane grater/zester produced too fine a consistency for our use.

We also have a William Bounds Chocolate Mill, which we fill with chocolate chips and bring to the table so people can grate their own garnish. Here’s our review. It’s a fun gadget but not as versatile as the options below.

We find using a grater with a handle to be the easiest. You may not want to acquire an extra gadget, but once you have it, peruse our “uses for shaved chocolate” list below. You’ll probably find ways to use it several times a week.

We most often use a Microplane Large Shaver, the shaver shown in photo above. There is also a medium ribbon grater.

Vegetable Peeler

You can also use a standard vegetable peeler. A peeler doesn’t create fine shavings like a ribbon grater, but the result may be just fine for your needs. Simply hold the chocolate firmly in place on the surface (we like to hold it on a non-slip silicone trivet) and shave down the edge of the chocolate.

A peeler is the tool to use when you want larger chocolate curls. Note that you need to peel the curls from a larger block of chocolate, not a thin chocolate bar.

Box Grater
The large and small holes on a box grater worked to grate chocolate, but at more peril to our knuckles (we rarely use a box grater for this reason). We preferred the Microplane and the peeler.

Shaved chocolate is usually a garnish, atop another food; but it can also be used as an inside ingredient.

On Foods

 
On Beverages

 
WARM IT OR FREEZE IT?

Some people recommend that you place the chocolate in the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to shaving. Others swear that chocolate grates more easily if it is slightly warmer than room temperature, and microwave the bar for a few seconds.

This will depend on the particular chocolate: the higher the cacao content, the harder the chocolate; the more added butterfat, the softer the chocolate. See what works best for you.