Valentine's Day

Want a quick and easy Valentine's dessert? How about Chocolate Fondue! All you have to do is melt some good quality chocolate (about 8 oz) with some whipping cream (about 3/4 cup). You can play around with the consistency of the sauce by using more or less cream. And you can use milk for a lower-fat version, but it isn't quite as rich and smooth. Dip firm fruit (strawberries, orange segments, apples, pineapple), cake, cookies, or marshmallows into the warm chocolate. And if there is any left over sauce, use your imagination!

Ultimate Brownies

This is a recipe I can claim as my own. I combined a couple of Brownie recipes, then tweaked it to develop the ultimate brownies. These are not your bake-sale brownies, not your quick-treat-for-the-kids brownies. These are a chocoholics delight, especially if you follow the instructions for the Million Dollar Brownies at the end.

3 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 oz dark chocolate
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp dark rum
1/3 cup flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sour cream

Melt chocolates and butter. Whisk eggs with sugar and rum. Stir in chocolate. Mix dry ingredients separately, then fold into chocolate mixture. Fold in sour cream. Bake in 9 inch pan for 30 minutes at 325F. The edges should just be pulling away from sides of pan. Let cool in pan for an hour, then place in fridge for about an hour before cutting.

For Million Dollar Brownies, chop 4 oz each white, milk and dark chocolate. Add half to batter. Melt remaining chocolates separately. Drop spoonfuls on top of batter in pan, then swirl for a marbled effect. Bake as above.