I don’t believe that Valentine’s Day gifts have to be expensive. I just think they need to be a little show of extra love (because every other day should be a show of love anyway!).
Instead of just giving chocolates, something you could do for your special someone is bake a little chocolate tart for them! It’s really easy, and the point of it is that it took EFFORT and LOVE to do!
It doesn’t even need to be for just one person, the beauty about little tarts is that you could bake a small batch for your family members, housemates, or colleagues that put that bit of brightness into your everyday!
I’m not used to making desserts, so this is new for me too. The first time i baked a dessert was Dove chocolate hot pots for Yishyene, Sa and Nadia when they came over for dinner. It was then that i thought baking with chocolate is pretty easy… you CAN’T go wrong with a mixture of chocolate, butter, flour and sugar!
For my second attempt at baking, i’m using Dove chocolate again. Decided to do it for Clem seeing i’ve never baked for him in my life. He got really excited smelling the melting chocolate from the kitchen. (Btw, he loves chocolate. I was shocked when he wrapped a piece of bread around a whole bar of Dove chocolate and ate it for dessert one night. A chocolate sandwich, he says. -_-)
I got the recipe below from the official Dove website but edited it slightly to our metric system. This should make you 12x Dove chocolate tarts if your tart pans are as small as mine (see pic below).
INGREDIENTS
For the crust:
– 130 g thin chocolate wafers
– 4 tablespoons butter, melted
– 2 tablespoons sugar
For filling:
– 240g DOVE® chocolate
– 110g instant chocolate pudding
– 3/4 cups whipped cream
– 1 handful of raspberries/strawberries
– 6 small tart pans
– 1 cookie sheet pan (i just put baking paper in a metal pan)
STEPS OF LOVE!
Sorry for my corniness, i’m allowed to be corny for Valentine’s Day! I even played love songs while baking this so i’d feel all lovey and imagined focusing my loving energy into the process.
1. Combine ground chocolate wafers with butter and sugar.
I used a blender cos it’s so much easier than by hand.
2. Press mixture into sides and bottom of greased tart pans.
3. Preheat your oven to 180°C. When hot, place tart pans on cookie sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool completely.
4. Melt DOVE® chocolate in microwave, stirring every 15 seconds until smooth.
Dove is already a very smooth chocolate, so imagine when it’s melted and whisked gracefully in a bowl..! The smell of melted chocolate is one of the BEST things you can smell in the kitchen!
5. Prepare pudding following instructions on package. Whisk melted chocolate with pudding, and refrigerate until set.
6. Before serving, mix half the whipped cream you have into your chilled chocolate + pudding mixture.
7. Fill tart shells with them.
8. Spoon remaining whipped cream into little plastic bag and snip a corner of it, so you can pipe your heart design on top. Or in my case, i thought i’d drip them in pseudo abstract art with the whisk. Cut the strawberries into half and shape them into hearts.
Serve with love!
Clem said it was ‘really good’. And he’s very straightforward with me when it comes to my cooking.
Excuse my appearance! I baked on a public holiday and didn’t bother with make up at home (who does?!).
Good luck with it! Though you don’t need too much luck – just time and effort!
<3
