Romance and Chocolate

Valentine's Day is right around the corner and with it comes the time to celebrate romance. Although it's unknown where the exact origin of where the first Valentine festivity began, it's still a favorite holiday for many people. Especially for those who look forward to the gifts from a loved one. Say...a beautiful bouquet of flowers and large delicious box of chocolates.

Chocolates....yum.  When you bite into that scrumptious melt in the mouth chocolate do you ever think about where it came from? Probably not, but before Nestles, Hershey, See's and all those that followed you can thank the Olmecs from the Mexico area. They were the first who discovered the cacao bean to be a delicious treat.

The Mayans came later.  Mayans loved chocolate so much they wrote about the cacao on their stone tablets referred to as "the food of the gods".

The Aztecs, 1420-1520 used cacao as currency. It is written they fed chocolate to their human sacrifices before killing them. A last treat. Not exactly romantic.

Then when Conquistador Cortez was served a cacao drink by Aztec Montezuma in 1519, he loved it so much he took it home to Europe and the love of chocolate quickly spread through Europe.

What have you planned for your special Valentine Day? Since it falls during the week it might not be as easy as if it fell on a Saturday of Sunday, but you can still make it special. You can always do the old standby breakfast in bed.  If it's only a muffin and a glass of juice or a cup of coffee it can still be a nice surprise. Or a nice dinner for two even if you stop on the way home and pick up something.

If you have time and want to bake something special there's always a red velvet cake, or cherry pie. Perhaps cookies cut in the shape of hearts, or chocolate brownies. We bet your mouth is now watering for a yummy piece of chocolate, or maybe a chocolate covered strawberry. Now, that's a good idea, a chocolate covered strawberry. With a glass of bubbly champagne. That's always special. Scatter rose pedals across the bed. We might be getting a little carried away. How about just a nice card for your honey and some pretty flowers. Works for us. But we still want the chocolate.

Here's an easy recipe for a chocolate dessert.

Yummy Devil’s Food Toffee Trifle Recipe

Ingredients

Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix

1 cup Kahlua (coffee-flavored, rum-based liqueur)

1-2 bags of small Heath candy bars (or 8 large Heath bars)

2 family size whipped topping

Instructions

Bake Devil's Food cake in a 9 x 13 inch pan the day before you plan to serve the trifle.

After cake has cooled, cut it into squares about 1½ to 2 inches square.

Leaving cake (sliced up) in the pan, pour Kahlua all over the top of the cake, getting the liqueur down in-between the slices.

Cover with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator overnight.

Next day, 2-4 hours before serving time, assemble trifle in a large bowl or trifle dish as follows.

Layer of cake (one third of cake)

Layer of whipped topping

Layer of Heath bar 

Repeat above layers twice more but only put a light sprinkling of Heath Bar on the top when completing the last layer.

We shortened this recipe a bit but you can see all the directions along with pictures at: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/yummy-devils-food-toffee-trifle-

Whatever you do we hope you have a wonderful day filled with romance and of course chocolate.

Tia Dani

Visit us at  http://bookswelove.net/authors/tia-dani/