VALENTINE DAY |Sweets for your Sweetie

Valentine Day is next week, a time that lovers express their undying love to one another. It has been a long tradition to give flowers, candy and/or cards to express your love. Women, more so than men, expect to get some type of gift or memento from their loved one. Generally the love is expressed by the price of the Valentine Day gift. The more expensive the gift, the more you are loved. But that ain't necessarily so.

Chocolate is always a favorite gift to give your sweetheart. Chocolate is loved worldwide whether it be dark, milk or white. Filled with everything from nuts to caramel. Chocolate is a sweet indulgence almost sinful in the satisfaction one gets from it deliciousness.

WHY DO WE EAT CHOCOLATE:

If you get a box of chocolates this Valentine’s Day, thank Richard Cadbury. After he and his brother took over his family’s chocolate manufacturing business, he discovered a way to extract pure cocoa butter from whole beans and added it to the company’s chocolate drink. The process produced more cocoa butter than expected, so he put it in “eating chocolate” as well. Then, in a business ploy that would change the industry, Cadbury started designing beautiful boxes for his new chocolates, including special Valentine’s Day ones with cupids and roses. It’s believed that he made the first heart-shaped candy box, even though he didn’t patent it.
https://www.rd.com/culture/history-of-valentines-day

A two pound box of See's Sweet Indulgence Heart, cost $62.50. On Amazon you can order a box of Godiva Chocolatier, Limited Edition 2019, 19 pieces, 7.1 ounce, for @$29.00, free delivery for prime. Based on your wallet you may need to order Whitman's Valentine Sampler Assorted Fine Chocolates, 13.2 oz, for $9.98, from Wal-Mart, but you have to pay shipping.

If you really want to show how much you love your Valentine, you can make them some candy that will revival the taste of any of the candies above. Plus you will spend less money making this scrumptious candy and you can use the extra money to buy a bigger and better card.

I chose to make my "Chocolate Coconut Pecan Bombs" and they are "The Bomb" for my Valentine. They are loaded with pecans and coconut with a buttery taste from ghee.

The recipe is from Pinterest as a no bake cookie, but I make it a little differently and present it as candy. The recipe is below.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup ghee or butter
1 cup coconut sugar
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons cocoa or cacao powder
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups coconut flakes
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or additional coconut flakes for a nut free version)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:
Add coconut milk, ghee, coconut sugar, maple syrup, cacao, and vanilla to a medium pot and bring to a boil.

Boil for 3 minutes, then remove from heat. Immediately add coconut flakes and pecans, and salt, stirring until completely coated in the chocolate mixture.


I used a cookie scooper to drop round balls into mini muffin paper cups. I saved the valentine box that I had from last year, but I dumped the candy that was in the box.

This candy and be stored in an airtight container or frozen for future enjoyment.

Happy Valentine Day!!!