Making Valentine’s Day a bit sweeter

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Whether you’ll be spending Feb. 14 with your significant other or family, you cannot deny that Valentine’s Day desserts make a sweet addition to the national holiday.

Got a Nutella lover in your life?

Consider making them some Nutella-stuffed red velvet skillet cookies! In a bowl, cream together butter and sugar until they reach a creamy consistency, then mix in vinegar, vanilla, egg and food coloring.

In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder, and combine it with the buttery mixture. You can then fold in chocolate chips and place the dough into a skillet, followed by a heaping layer of Nutella and another layer of dough.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, top off your creation with some ice cream and your Nutella-stuffed cookies are ready for sweet, sweet consumption.

Who says Valentine’s Day desserts need to be fancy?

Take a swing at these red velvet pots, and you’ll always want your cakes to go — in a mug! In your favorite cup, mix together milk and white vinegar. In another bowl, combine your dry ingredients: cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, flour and sugar. Grab another bowl and combine vegetable oil, food coloring, vanilla and eggs.

Here’s the fun part: Add all of your mixtures together, divide the batter into two cups, and microwave each mug individually for one minute and 30 seconds. From then on, you can decorate it to your heart’s desire or to your stomach’s — and eat it right away!

For all you health lovers out there

Valentine’s Day trail mix will be the perfect snack for that hiking trip with your sweetheart. To prepare, line two baking sheets with waxed paper. Take two bowls, and fill one with granola and the other with pretzels.

Then, melt one cup of chocolate and pour the sweet liquidy goodness over the granola and pretzels. Empty out the bowls onto the baking sheets and allow to set. Once solid, chop up the chocolate pieces and mix in dried fruits or other nuts of your choice.

A new take on cookies

You can’t have Valentine’s Day with one of its popular staples: cookies! Not just any cookie but rather, white-chocolate cherry shortcake ones. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit; in the meantime, prepare your cherries by spreading them on paper towels.

Mix together flour, sugar and butter until the consistency is akin to crumbs. Dump in your cherries and chocolate and add almond extract. To add some flare, you may add food coloring.

Knead this mixture until it is smooth and does not crumble in your palms. Roll the dough into balls, place them onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Once the morsels are cooled, you may decorate them with white chocolate and shortening or the classic red and pink heart sprinkles.

Valentine’s Day celebrates the love everyone feels for each other. While chocolates, roses and huge teddy bears are commonly given gifts, why not add one of these delectable desserts this year to your list of Valentine’s Day “must-gives?”