Happy Healthy Motivated

These thick, gooey brownies are hiding a delicious secret that you’ll love when you find out! Each heart-shaped brownie bite has a square of chocolate baked inside. I chose to bake square’s of Milka’s caramel hazelnut chocolate into mine, but you can pick whichever chocolate bar is your favourite. Just imagine – Milky Way, Twix, Snickers…So many possibilities!

I made these brownie bites using cute heart-shaped moulds I picked up – making them just perfect for Valentine’s Day! These brownie bites can be made using any moulds you like so you can make them all year-round! This recipe made around 8-10 brownie bites using my small moulds.

It’s our last day in Rome and we’re off for a romantic dinner right now. Which place has Boyfriend chosen for a memorable Valentine’s dinner in Rome? A Cuban restaurant… I’ve got my fingers crossed and I’m hoping for the best!

I hope you guys all have a great Valentine’s Day!

Smooth, velvety and rich – this triple chocolate mousse cake is the perfect way to end an indulgent Valentine’s Day meal. Made up for three sumptuous mousse layers, this dessert not only tastes amazing, but also looks stunning.

Pink Recipe Box hasn’t been very active this week because I got taken to Rome for my birthday and Valentine’s present! There has been a huge number of hurdles to jump over since we got here: flights delayed, sudden on-set of a throat infection, make up bag lost, heavy snow forcing ALL major tourist attractions to close… I still can’t get my head around the fact that they actually close huge things like the Colosseum and the Pantheon because snow was forecast.

But anyway, back to the dessert…

Each layer is made in the exact same way, just using a different kind of chocolate. This recipe makes quite a lot of mousse – I’d say around 6 portions – but they freeze really well so you can just keep them frozen until your next chocolate craving hits.

1/2tsp gelatine

1tbsp water

60ml milk

70g finely chopped dark chocolate

140ml double cream

1/2tsp gelatine

1tbsp water

60ml milk

70g finely chopped milk chocolate

140ml double cream

1/2tsp gelatine

1tbsp water

60ml milk

70g finely chopped white chocolate

140ml double cream

1. Pour 1tbsp of water into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatine on top. Leave the gelatine for about 5 minutes – until it has soaked up the water.

2. Heat up the milk in a saucepan over a medium-high heat until it begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and add the gelatine mix to the saucepan. Stir really well until the gelatine is completely dissolved then pour over the chopped dark chocolate. Leave to sit for 2 minutes and whisk until the chocolate is melted.

3. Separately, whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks. Mix a small amount of cream into the chocolate mixture to lighten it up, then gently fold the rest of the cream in. Pour into a cylindrical mould and place in the freezer.

4. Repeat the above steps with the white chocolate and pour on top of the dark chocolate in the mould and leave to set in the freezer. Do the same again for the milk chocolate and freeze until set. Remove the mousse from the freezer at least 2 hours before you’re ready to enjoy it.

These heart-shaped scones are jam packed with juicy berries and they’re just perfect for treating that special someone on Valentine’s Day. Do you have any fabulous Valentine’s recipes of your own? Share them in the comments section – I’d love to see them!

The scones are more on the savoury-side, which makes them ideal for loading up with butter, jam, Nutella, peanut butter or whatever sweet topping tickles your fancy.

The drizzle you can see on these scones is just melted white chocolate – it didn’t come out as thick as I intended!

It really depends on the size of your cutter how many scones this recipes yields. Using a large cutter, I managed to make 4 scones.

200g plain flour

100g self-raising flour

4 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

75g unsalted butter, softened

70g caster sugar

1 egg

100ml cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 handful of mixed berries

A few drops of pink food colouring

1. Preheat oven to 200C and lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.

3. If you’re using fresh berries, simply stir them into the mixture. If you’re using frozen berries, make sure they’re fully defrosted then dry them really well before mixing them in.

4. Separately, beat the egg and cream together with the vanilla extract and a few drops of pink food colouring. Pour this into the flour mixture and bring together with your hands until it forms dough.

5. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead very briefly to form a smooth ball.

6. Gently roll the dough out to a thickness of about 4cm. Use a heart-shaped cutter to cut out the scones and place them on the baking sheet.

7. Brush the tops of the scones with milk, making sure the milk doesn’t flow down the side, and bake for about 20 minutes until risen.

These strawberry cheesecake bites are a great alternative to a slice of cheesecake and taste just as good – without the guilt. In some aspects, they’re even better than a cheesecake – there is no baking or refrigeration needed, so you can fulfil that cheesecake craving in only a couple of minutes.

This is a really versatile recipe and can easily be doubled or even tripled for parties. You can experiment with different cheesecake fillings – try a decadent chocolate filling or wrap the whole thing up with a strawberry filling!