Love is in the Air

My poor blog has been very neglected of late so it’s time to pay it some attention and share a recipe for Valentine’s Day.

In preparation for my ‘Cupid’s Cookery‘ class last week I did a little research on aphrodisiacs and found lots of trivia. Did you know that basil was used for seduction by women in Moldova? Or that Catholic priests in Spain banned avocados because they found them obscenely sexual?

Other reputed aphrodisiacs are honey, almonds and chocolate – so what better way to celebrate St Valentine’s Day than to present the object of your affections with a combination of all three?

This recipe is based on one I found in the course of my research….I’ve made a few alterations and  I hope you like it……

What you need:

• Heart Shaped loose bottomed tin
• 180g dark chocolate digestives
• 60g butter
• 2 tbsp. flaked almonds
• 200ml Avonmore Fresh Cream
• 3 tbsp. Limefield Honey
• 300g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), in pieces
• Generous splash of Cointreau! 

What you do:

• Crush the biscuits finely and add in the melted butter. Then press into the bottom of heart shaped tin.
• Toast the almonds in a dry pan.
• Whisk the cream and honey together in a small saucepan over a low heat and then slowly bring the mix to just below the boil.
• Pour the mix over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate melts.
• Stir in the toasted almonds and the Cointreau.
• Pour the mix into the lined tin and leave to chill for a few hours until set (overnight is best)
• Decorate to your heart’s content with almonds, hearts and sparkles!
• Serve with lots of extra Avonmore Fresh Dessert Cream

  

I also made individual ones for last week’s date night  – one with added sea salt which I preferred but The Chief Taster preferred the Cointreau version!

Did it live up to expectations? Well, let’s just say there were no complaints ……

Happy Cooking!