Sweets for Your Sweet: Strawberry Roses & Chocolate Desserts

Whether you go all out for Valentine’s Day or just enjoy the day like any other, we can all appreciate how sweets are a big part of celebrating your love. Namely, chocolate.

And we guarantee that these decadent chocolate recipes from our blog will make your holiday meal complete. To dress-up the desserts for Valentine’s Day, try your hand at carving edible roses out of strawberries — just see our simple tutorial below! The extra-special touch will melt hearts.

Chocolate Recipes That Say "I Love You"

Milk Chocolate Custard: This raw chocolate dessert is made with good-for-you cacao and avocado. And did we mention it’s AMAZINGLY tasty and decadent?!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies: Guilt-free and gluten-free vegan chocolate chip cookies would pair well with almond milk on ice. Yum!

Dark Chocolate Mint Pears: Combine this fiber-rich fruit with heart-healthy dark chocolate for a feel-good Valentine’s Day treat.

Banana Cacao Pudding Tart: This raw nut-free tart is pure chocolate-y goodness.

Organic Chocolate Bark: We made this for the holidays, but chocolate bark could just as easily be made for Valentine’s Day. Enjoy this while sipping on some eco-friendly wine.

A Sweet Twist on the Traditional Red Rose

Personal touches make everything a bit sweeter. We love these beautiful strawberry roses — they make a great addition to a chocolate dessert or glass of champagne. You can even put them on bamboo skewers or eco-friendly straws to create an edible bouquet.

There are quite a few tutorials on Pinterest that show how to carve strawberry roses. We watched a couple YouTube videos and studied a couple blog posts for a culinary crash course in carving skills. Some chefs start at the top of the berry, but we found carving the bottom first produced prettier flowers. Also, the smaller the paring knife, the easier it is to make the rose.

Don't worry if the first few are a bit tough to make; simply enjoy them as a snack. After some practice, you'll totally get the hang of this fruit art. (The medium-sized plump strawberries make the best flowers!)

Here's how we made these:

Step 1: Wash the organic strawberries.

Step 2: Place the berry on your counter or cutting board and carve the bottom petals with your knife pointing slightly toward the berry's center.

Step 3: Use the leaves and/or stem to hold the berry while carving another row of petals. Complete it in one of two ways: Keep carving petals, or when there's not much strawberry left, carve in a spiral until you reach the center.

Step 4: You might need to press a bit on top of the berry to make the “petals” fan out.

Enjoy!

What dessert are you making for Valentine’s Day? Share your recipe in the comments!