Red and pink hearts, chocolates and sweets, romantic surprises. Yes, Valentine’s Day is coming! We present you a trio of Valentine’s day dessert recipes that will definitely impress your partner and would be a great companion to a romantic gourmet dinner. These homemade desserts look like they were prepared by professionals – Panna cotta with strawberry sauce, chocolate hearts and chocolate truffles.
Valentine’s day dessert recipes
Panna cotta with strawberry sauce
For the panna cotta:
400 ml milk,
125 ml double cream,
40 g sugar,
2 teaspoons vanilla extract,
2 gelatin leaves
For the sauce:
400 g strawberries (even frozen)
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract,
mint leaves for decoration
Pour the milk into a bowl and sprinkle over the gelatin. Allow to sit about 5 minutes until the gelatin softens. Combine the double cream and the sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Allow to simmer about 3 minutes and stir in the gelatin mixture until it dissolves completely. Add the vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into four dessert cups, cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight in a refrigerator.
For the strawberry sauce combine the strawberries, sugar, vanilla extract and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Crush the strawberries with a potato masher while it cooks. Simmer for about 10 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the sauce thickens. Let it cool.
Take the panna cotta cups from the refrigerator shortly before serving, pour the sauce over and garnish with mint leaves.
Valentine’s day dessert recipes – Chocolate ganache hearts
For the cake layers you could try different recipes such as Devil’s Food. You can get full tutorial here.
Chocolate ganache
230 g dark chocolate
180 ml double cream
30 g butter
1 tablespoon cognac or rum
Grate or chop the chocolate and place into a bowl. In a small sauce pan pour the cream, add the butter and heat over medium heat. Just before the cream boils, pour the chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth. Stir in the cognac and mix again. Allow the ganache to cool.
Roll out the cookie dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thickness and use the cookie cutter to cut out small hearts. Bake for 6-10 minutes or until light brown.
To pour the ganache on the hearts, set tehm on a cooling rack over a sheet pan lined with parchment. Slowly pour the ganache over the cookies, starting in the middle and working outward. If your ganache starts to get too thick, return to the stove and heat for a few seconds.
Chocolate truffles
For 20 truffles you need:
220 g of dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
200 ml double cream,
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
5 ml of cognac
Combine the chocolate, double cream and sugar in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer. When the mixture gets smooth, add the cognac and mix. Remove from the heat, allow to cool, then place in a refrigerator for 2 hours. When the mixture hardens, roll out balls with asymmetrical shape. Roll again in real cocoa powder. Garnish with mint leaves.
