Today I’d like to share one of my favourite home-made chocolate treats – Chocolate Cookie Crunch Hearts. They are so delicious, yet simple to make. They contain just THREE ingredients! ✨ They are perfect for sharing with loved ones on Valentine’s Day. Head below to see how I make them.
Mark and I haven’t got a great track record when it comes to Valentine’s Day. Normally our days run pretty smoothly (and I’m very thankful for that!) but we seems to trip and stumble our way through Valentines. It’s very strange indeed!
One year we’d arranged to go out for a special Valentine’s meal, but Mark decided to first unblock the kitchen sink. He put on safety goggles (‘cos that’s the kind of guy he is), poured a heavy duty drain cleaner down the plughole and pushed the plunger. A second later, the drain cleaner shot out the overflow, through a gap in the side of his safety goggles and straight into his eye!!!
Since I’m not very confident at driving, he chose to drive himself to the hospital. In a hurry (and with only one eye vision!) he accidentally cut up a guy at a roundabout. The guy got so mad that he overtook us, slammed on his brakes in front of our car, got out his car and started making his way towards us. We quickly swerved round him and continued on our way. It was scary at the time (and one of the least romantic nights of my life), but seems totally farcical now!
Decades later, things haven’t improved much. Last year, we decided to celebrate Valentines Day with a take-away from our favourite Thai restaurant. We rang through the order using the numbers on the menu (as you do). When the food arrived, we gleefully ripped open the containers…. to discover that the dishes were full of meat 🙁 It turns out that our menu was out of date and the dish numbers had changed!
I dread to think what might happen this year. To be safe, I’m going to lie low!
Whatever happens, the Valentines treats should be okay, as I’m making them in advance. The chocolates were made yesterday, and I made sure I had a few extra so that Lil’ L could test them for me. I’m delighted to say that he gave them a huge thumbs up.
These treats remind me of Tiffin and Rocky Road, yet they are neither as they don’t contain butter, syrup, marshmallow or dried fruits. They are simply a scrumptious mix of dark chocolate and crunchy biscuits (cookies), topped with a sprinkling of colourful berries.
I used freeze-dried strawberries, but raspberries would work well too. In one batch, I added some strawberries into the centre, but Lil’ L and I agreed that we preferred the batch where the strawberries were sprinkled on top only.
For the crunchy centre, I used some Doves wholewheat digestive biscuits, which have great flavour and are dairy-free.
These chocolate treats are super simple to make, yet look really impressive! I set them in cupcake moulds, so they’re pretty substantial and great for sharing.
You could make a single chocolate for your loved one, or a ‘His n Her’ pair. Wrap them in cellophane with a hand-made card, and your loved one is bound to be impressed by the thought and effort you’ve put in.
Here’s how to make them:
Valentines Chocolate Cookie Crunch Hearts
Ingredients
- 85 g / 3 oz 70% dark chocolate broken into chunks
- 4 TBSP digestive biscuits or shortbread / sugar cookies broken into small pieces*
- Freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries for sprinkling
Instructions
- Add a small amount of water to a saucepan and place a heat-proof bowl on top. Add the chocolate to the bowl and gently heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate has fully melted.
- In a small bowl, stir together the biscuit pieces and 2 TBSP melted chocolate, until fully incorporated.
- Coat the bottom of a silicone mould with 1 tsp melted chocolate (this will give the chocolate a nice, smooth bottom). Add 2 TBSP of the crunchy mixture and press to level as much as possible. Add 1 TBSP melted chocolate and tap the mould on the work surface to remove air bubbles and level the top. Sprinkle with freeze dried berries and place in the fridge until solid (about 2 hours). Repeat the above steps for the second chocolate.
- When set, the chocolates should easily peel out of their moulds.
- Store in an airtight container, the chocolates will keep for weeks in the fridge. They are also freezable.
Notes
Pin for later:
What would your ideal Valentines gift be? Do you like grand gestures, roses, romantic meals… or do you prefer the smaller, low key but thoughtful gestures like hand-made cards and treats?
Oh how funny – I bought the Waitrose freeze dried raspberries on Thursday in preparation for Valentine’s Day chocolate making!! Now I just want to make yours as they look so good 🙂
I also laughed so hard (although obviously it wouldn’t have been funny at the time) at your past Valentine’s stories. We have fairly low key days usually and perhaps it’s for the best!!
These chocs looks so great. I might even try and make some myself. Lucky M and Lil’L! For valentines, we like to swap cards with lovely messages inside and often opt for a Chinese takeaway, as our first date was on a hill with a Chinese 🙂
What a romantic first date ♥ Was it in Loughborough?
My first proper date with M wasn’t especially romantic as he pranged his cortina (probably the nerves on taking me out lol!) Our second first date (4+ years later) was far more romantic – pub, then a walk up One Tree Hill to go “comet spotting” 😉
These are so lovely, Sharon! Perfect and sexy Valentine’s Day treats! I had a German white chocolate with dried cherries…it was soooo good! Now I want this next! My anniversary is coming up in a few weeks, so it’s a mixture of V-Day and anniversary day. I like low-key and smaller gifts….:)
Wow a double celebration coming up! Happy Anniversary! ♥ Which country will you be in for the celebrations?
White chocolate with cherries sounds amazing! I’ve never tried anything like that before!
I prefer low-key smaller gifts too but, saying that, I wouldn’t say no to a romantic weekend away or night in a spa hotel if it was on offer 😉
So beautiful Sharon! Love the digestives addition. Tiffin was a childhood favourite 🙂
Thanks Emma ♥ Do you know, I’ve never actually eaten Tiffin or Rocky Road myself! I only discovered them later in life, after I stopped eating dairy! I don’t feel like I’ve missed out though as there are so many tasty (healthier!) vegan alternatives 🙂
These look really pretty!
Thanks Lauren! They’re so simple to make. Next time round, I’ll make them into a bark rather than heart shaped. I’m being way too girly this week 😉
So beautiful! 🙂 Think I’ll make this with peanuts for my hubby!
Ooh peanuts would be good! I made M some chocolate peanut & raisin bark at Christmas (using coconut oil instead of coconut butter). In the first batch I didn’t roast the peanuts and they didn’t taste as great, so I made a second batch with lightly roasted nuts. M loved it!
Here’s wishing you a very happy Valentines Day 😀 xx
Sharon,the most lovely recipe of the year !!! really delicious ,lightly & crunchy : ) thanks so much for the story from the heart !!
I’m so pleased that you like it Maria ♥ I’m not sure if you celebrate Valentines Day in your country, but I hope you have a wonderful day whatever you’re up to xx
Oh if they only sold nice gluten free biscuits … still these would be nice without! You never said…was M OK?
We don’t celebrate Valentine’s really..I’m from the era when Valentine’s Day was all about sending an anonymous card to someone you liked..I hate the commercialism!
Still it’s a nice excuse to eat chocolate!
Sorry, yes M was fine! They just rinsed out his eye at the hospital then we headed back home. Definitely one of the least romantic nights of my life lol!
Are there any shop bought gluten free biscuits that you’d recommend? I noticed that the supermarkets have GF digestives in their Free From sections. Are they any good?
Haha, my new iphone actually notified me of your comment with a ding! The last one gave up doing that a while ago. I wouldn’t recommend any of the shop bought biscuits they taste like cardboard (not that I’ve eaten cardboard).
I have still to make my own gluten free ones, I used to make a really nice digestive before being gluten free – I’ll have to work on that.
Have a lovely day tomorrow xo
As soon as you master a GF digestive biscuit, you must let me know! I won’t bother trying the shop bought ones. They sound pretty grim!
Have a wonderful weekend! ♥ xx
I think i’m in love …. with your chocolate cake recipe! Looks easy enough for even me not to get wrong. Thank you for sharing the sink story….Hilarioius!!!!
This chocolate crunch heart recipe is super easy… just melt the choc and mix in some digestive biscuit pieces. Tastes so yummy!
Here’s wishing you a lovely day tomorrow ♥ xx
Yeah, we could float across the garden lol!
Can’t believe we’re flooded again… third time this year!!!
These look amazing and sound so simple to make. Let’s hope valentines day goes well for you this year. At least you know you will have some lovely chocolate to eat 🙂
Thanks Mercedes ♥ I’ve had so many bad experiences on Valentines that I’m getting that kind of ‘Friday 13th’ feeling as it approaches… What I do love about Valentines though, is that it gives me a great excuse to make lots of yummy chocolate treats to share with family & friends 😀
Have a great weekend! xx