[1] A great way to have your breakfast eggs…or lunch…or dinner (photo © Pizzeria Otto | Chicago).

[2] Grated Parmesan cheese (photo © Microplane).

Not in the neighborhood? Make one yourself.

Eggs in Purgatory is an Italian dish (similar to the Israeli dish, shakshuka) where eggs are baked in a spicy red sauce. “Purgatory” refers to the heat in the recipe.

The classic recipe is an egg dish, not a pizza. But the pizza dough eliminates the need for bread on the side, and the egg yolks running over the spicy sauce and crust are a delectable combination.

Find more of our favorite pizza recipes by using the pull-down menu in the right column.
 
 
EGGS IN PURGATORY PIZZA RECIPE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. DICE the onion. Heat a saucepan with olive oil; sautée onions and garlic over medium heat until soft.

2. ADD the tomatoes. If using whole tomatoes, purée mixture with an immersion blender.

3. ADD the salt and basil, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Cook over medium-high heat for 25 minutes or until desired thickness is reached.

4. PLACE the pizza crust on a baking sheet and par-cook at 500°F for 2 minutes until dough is puffed but not brown. Add sauce and raw eggs and sprinkle top with Parmesan.

5. BAKE at 575°F until eggs whites are cooked (yolks are medium) and crust is browned.

If you’re looking for a special box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day, head over to the website and take your pick.

Gift boxes filled with heavenly chocolates are available from 2 pieces to 24 pieces, $7.00 to $64.00.

Read our review of Chocolat Céleste.

[2] Or bake and decorate your own. You can dip them in chocolate instead of the fancy icing (photo © Taste of Home)

[3] St. Valentine—Valentinus in Latin (photo © Communio).

For the Valentine whose heart desires two-and-one-half pounds of solid milk chocolate, the creative chocolatiers at Choclatique suggest Chocolate Man (in photo) or Chocolate Girl (she has long eyelashes and a hair bow).

There’s no gingerbread underneath—it’s 100% solid chocolate (plus decorations).

Each Chocolate Man and Girl is custom made and decorated to order.

It can be inscribed with a name (include the information in the special notes section at checkout).

Chocolate Man and Girl are 13″ tall, 10″ wide and 1/2″ thick, and are made of all-natural, premium chocolate. Get yours now:

 
They’re $50.00 each and nicely packaged.
 
 
> The history of Valentine’s Day is below.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of gingerbread.

> The history of gingerbread men.

> The history of gingerbread houses.

> The different types of ginger cookies.

> The history of cookies.

> The year’s 44 cookie holidays. (National Gingerbread Day is June 5th.)

> The year’s 11 ginger-related holidays.

> The 10 basic styles of cookies (gingerbread men are rolled/cutout cookies, whereas gingersnaps/ginger cookies are drop cookies).

> The different varieties of of cookies: a photo glossary.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE’S DAY

This holiday for lovers has roots in an annual Roman celebration called Lupercalia, held on February 15th.

Men stripped naked, grabbed goat- or dog-skin whips and spanked young maidens, with the goal of increasing their fertility.

The pagan celebration remained wildly popular well into the fifth century C.E.—more than 150 years after Emperor Constantine had made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Church leaders were unable to put a stop to the celebration, so scholars contend that they converted it into a Christian festival with this story:

The third century C.E. Roman Emperor Claudius II, seeking recruits for his army, forbade young men to marry before serving.

In defiance, the priest Valentine performed marriages in secret (he also helped martyrs at the time of persecution, and when in prison converted guards and their families to Christianity).

He was executed by beheading on February 14, 270 and ultimately became Saint Valentine (his relics repose in the Church of Saint Praxedes in Rome).

Valentine greetings for loved ones were popular as far back as the Middle Ages. According to Wikipedia: “The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.” Poems were written to one’s beloved; in the 19th century, they were replaced by mass-produced greeting cards.

In 1850, Esther Howland, an American printer and artist, was among the first to publish and sell Valentine cards in the United States. In the early 1900s the Norcross card company became one of the first companies to manufacture Valentines. With the exception of Christmas, Americans exchange more cards on Valentine’s Day than any other time of year.

In 1861, chocolate manufacturer Richard Cadbury created the first heart-shaped box of chocolate for Valentine’s Day; and commercialization took over.

2026 Update: Total spending on Valentine’s Day in the USA is projected to reach a record $29.1 billion, up from $27.5 billion in 2025. On average, consumers plan to spend approximately $199.78 per person, with more than 55% of Americans celebrating. Key categories include jewelry ($7 billion), evenings out ($6.3 billion), and the remainder candy/flowers/cards. More than half of shoppers—56%—buy candy.

 

[4] If you prefer gingerbread teddy bears for your Valentine, here’s the recipe (photo © Steve’s Kitchen).
 

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

One of five alternatives to Valentine
chocolate. Photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma.

Solution: five recommendations for delicious food items that aren’t chocolates.

Our Valentine Top Picks include:

1. Godiva Chocolate Vodkas & Chocolate Liqueurs

2. Patron XO Cafe Dark Cocoa, a chocolate- and coffee-infused tequila.

3. Cakeslider Creations push-up pops filled with buttercream-frosted cake.

4. Richart Chocolate Chocomacs, innovative macarons filled with ganache and topped with a chocolate paillette.

5. Two Hearts Bakery Heart-Shaped Pies On A Stick (a Williams-Sonoma exclusive)

A crumb or crumble topping—a.k.a. streusel—is a stroke of genius, says chef Johnny Gnall. A few basic ingredients, mashed together by hand and popped into the oven, results in a sweet, rich, crumbly voluptuousness that’s wonderful with any number of sweets. It’s a low fuss, crowd-pleasing dessert topping that can really dress things up.

Crumble topping, known in German as streusel (SHTROY-zul,) is a crumb topping of butter, flour and sugar; it can contain chopped nuts or rolled oats. The word derives from the German “streuen,” meaning to sprinkle or scatter. Streusel is used as a topping for a variety of pies, fruit crisps, cakes and pastries, most notably coffee cakes. A pie with a streusel topping is sometimes referred to as a “crumble pie.”

A cobbler is the British term for a crisp. Here are the related desserts: betty, buckle, crumble, grunt, pandowdy, slump, etc.

The best thing about a crumble topping is its versatility.

 
THE BEST CRUMBLE TOPPING

In this recipe, made with whole wheat flour and golden brown sugar, oats add a pleasant heartiness—plus, they’re a second whole grain. You can substitute white flour and hold the oats; but you’ll get much more flavor as shown.

Crumble Ingredients

 
Depending on how you plan to use the crumble, you’ll also need apples, pie filling, etc. While we’d much rather cook our own fruit than use even the best pie filling, most people—including kids—like it under a crumble topping.
 
Preparation
1. Combine the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together with your fingers, pinching the butter into the dry mix until it forms balls the size of a pea.

2. Once all of the dry mix is incorporated into the butter, spread out on a cookie sheet or baking tray topped with a piece of parchment paper. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. For a crispier crumble you can bake longer, but you may prefer it on the softer side, especially with baked apples.

CRISP, CRUMBLE, COBBLER: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

Crisp. A crisp is a deep-dish fruit dessert made with a crumb or streusel topping and baked. A betty is a crisp topped with buttered bread crumbs or bread pieces instead of streusel; “brown” (as in apple brown betty) refers to the brown sugar in the recipe.

Crumble. Crumble is the British term for a crisp.

Cobbler. A cobbler topping is different from a crisp or crumble, which has a crumb topping. Shortcake batter or biscuit dough is dropped onto the fruit before baking. The dish got its name because the lumps of cooked dough resembled cobblestones. Related desserts include a grunt, which is a spoon pie with biscuit dough on top of stewed fruit (fruit which is steamed, not baked); a pandowdy, a spoon pie with a rolled top crust that is broken up to allow the juices to come through; and a slump, a spoon pie topped with biscuit dough or pie crust, which can be baked or steamed, and can be made upside down.

Learn your pie and pastry types in our Pie Glossary.