The best gift you can give your loved ones this Valentine's Day is something homemade and delicious. It shows you really care, and spent time picking out just the right recipe and making it just for them. It may sound like a daunting task, but we have lots of super easy recipes that look completely adorable and will melt hearts. I've picked out 10 simple recipes that are fun to make — and will make you the most thoughtful Valentine this year.
Strawberry Heart Bark
Swirls of semi-sweet and white chocolate are studded with conversation hearts, candy sprinkles, and freeze-dried strawberries to make this colorful Valentine's Day bark. Break it into pieces to package up for easy gifting.
Chocolate Truffle Cookies
"These are unbelievable!" raves KatieN. "If you like chocolate, you will love these. I am very grateful to the reviewer who recommended dipping your hands in cold water (and keeping them wet) when handling the dough- makes things much easier! My only other comment is to keep the cookies small because they are so rich, and make sure you use parchment paper when baking."
Home Made Top Tarts!
Start with this easy recipe (it uses refrigerated pie crust for a shortcut) and cut out mini tarts. Place a popsicle stick on the bottom cut-out, add a dab of filling to the center (not too much!) and wet the edges before positioning the top cut-out. Seal the edges with a fork and bake until golden brown. Cool and frost as desired. So adorable!
Stuffed Strawberries
strawberries, cut off the stem ends to create a level surface so the strawberries can stand up. Then make a criss-cross cut and fan out gently. Make sure your cheesecake filling is stiff enough to hold together when you pipe it into the strawberries.
White Chocolate Fondue
Rich creamy white chocolate fondue, made with real cream! Perfect for a party or a romantic night in. Assemble tasty things to dip like pretzel rods, brownies, marshmallows and assorted fruits. Enjoy!
Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bites
So easy! Chill the peanut butter and cream cheese mixture before dipping in white chocolate, and add a decorative drizzle just for fun. Christina pressed the mixture into heart-shaped candy molds before chilling and dipping.
Valentine's Day Strawberry Muffins
Valentine's Slice-and-Bake Cinnamon Heart Shortbread Cookies
Strawberry Napoleons
This fancy looking desserts is ridiculously easy to make, thanks to frozen puff pastry dough and vanilla pudding.
"Maximum elegance for minimum fuss," says basg101. "This was super - easy to assemble, looked stunning, and tasted delicious. I made it one day ahead, keeping the cream in the fridge and the pastry squares in an air-tight container out of the fridge. It went over so well with my company I plan on making it again for the guest expected next week."
Cake Balls
It takes only three simple ingredients to make these lovely little cake balls. Well, four, if you add a decorative drizzle. The recipe calls for chocolate cake mix, but Dianne used strawberry cake mix and strawberry frosting to get that pretty pink center. She dipped the balls in semi-sweet chocolate and drizzled them with pink icing.
Top tips from reviewers: 1) Let the cake cool for 30 minutes before mixing in the frosting. 2) Chill the cake and frosting mixture before rolling it into balls. 3) Freeze the balls for an hour before dipping in melted chocolate.