Chocolate Pots de Creme

If you celebrate Valentine's Day, I hope it was a good one.  I view it as a commercial holiday, but always worthy of a good dessert. In years past I've made desserts that Joe would like, but they're usually flavors that don't appeal to me (like the combination of peanut butter and chocolate).  I did the same this year and will cover that in another post, but this year I also made something for me.  These are Chocolate Pots de Creme I've been eyeing ever since I saw them on Facebook around New Year's.  They are creamy, indulgent, and very chocolaty.  They're also gluten-free.  And they are the easiest thing in the world to make.

The only difficult part is chopping a block of chocolate.  I should stick to buying bars from now on.  You just toss the chopped-up chocolate in the food processor, pour in some hot milk and cream to blend, and you're almost done.  Blend in an egg, some vanilla, and allspice.  Pour into cups or ramekins, and chill for a few hours.  The recipe filled exactly two 6-ounce ramekins, perfect for a Valentine's Day dessert.  But I plan to treat myself to the recipe throughout the year.  Joe also got me flowers for the occasion -- I wonder if I can keep the cats from eating them?

Frozen Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie

Ladies, does this situation sound familiar to you?  You've baked something for an event, a potluck, or a friend or relative, and your fella asks you where that's going or says he would have liked some?  When Joe saw the heart-shaped cookie cutters and ate some of the chocolate cutouts from the Two-tone Linzer Hearts I made for my sister, he was a bit envious.  I had something different in mind for him though.  Since he liked the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups that I made for Valentine's Day last year so much, this Frozen Chocolate-Peanut Butter Pie sounded like a winner.

People with Celiac will rejoice to hear this pie is gluten-free.  For the base, I used storebought gluten-free cookies that I had intended for a different purpose and recipient but never got around to.  But the Pamela's brand cookies were surprisingly delicious, so I used them.

I also made the recipe into four small pies, and you won't finish even one pie in a single sitting because they're so rich.  Two were made in 5-inch pie plates, and two in mini-springform pans that showcase the beautiful sides and base of the pies.

Joe was impressed with the beautiful pies, plus he went back for seconds.  I think I came out on top because my gift was a heart pendant, plus some of you might recall I'm no fan of mixing chocolate and PB.  And, I just might make those Linzer Hearts again.

This post was shared with:
Tea Party Tuesday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Sweet Treats Thursday
Sweets for a Saturday
Themed Baker's Sunday

Two-tone Linzer Hearts

Every year the twin sister pesters me to make linzers around Christmas.  I think she now expects them around Valentine's Day, too!  I've done linzers a couple times on this blog before, but when I saw these beautiful Chocolate and Vanilla Linzer Hearts on Butteryum I had to make them.  I can just hear the sister complaining about changing up her favorite recipe, but I think she should count herself lucky that she gets any cookies.  I mean, how many people send you linzers without fail every year?

I used my usual King Arthur Flour recipe with the hazelnut dough, but adapted Butteryum's idea to make half of the dough chocolate.  Guittard cocoa powder gives it an intense, chocolatey hit that mortal cocoa powders might not.  The chocolate cookie is further contrasted with the hazelnut layer by a shower of snowy confectioners sugar.  And the little cutout chocolate hearts are pretty darn cute.  I think the sister will enjoy these anyway.

This post was shared with:
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Tea Party Tuesday
Sweet Treats Thursday
Sweets for a Saturday