I’m a day late, but had intended to post 14-28: “Hot Love” for Valentine’s Day, because how could you not? Apologies for procrastinating on it, but at least it’s there for Valentine’s Day 2024 (and beyond).
This one used to make me giggle every time I looked at the card as a kid–it felt cheesy to me even back then (but also sort of intriguing in that “is this what grown-ups do?” kind of way). I pretty much still feel the same way about it (grown-up question and all).
What is the plate in the picture above resting on (besides a book)? A cabinet on its side? A locked trunk? What’s in the box!?
Can you tell I’m not much of a romantic?
This is just a fancy sundae, somewhat like 15-14: Knickerbocker Glory. I looked at our local fancy supermarket for premade chocolate curls, but couldn’t find them and was too lazy to make my own. If you want to make your own, here’s a good guide.
Ingredients. I did manage to grate the chocolate (in the bowl on top of the ice cream), so some work was done. Not a lot though–I have pre-whipped “cream” since the non-dairy stuff does not like to whip as well as the real stuff (and no one seems to make lactose-free whipping cream). I also chose some raspberry shortbread cookies (from the aforementioned “fancy market) instead of macaroons, since they seemed like a good complement.
I also chose some water glasses as my “serving bowls” since they don’t get a lot of use otherwise.
Heating up the raspberries.
The most common raspberry liqueur (that I could find) seems to be Chambord, which is what I have here (also from the aforementioned “fancy market”). I have no idea what else I’m going to use the rest of this for, besides other Simply Delicious recipes. At least it’s pretty to look at.
The shortbread cookies were somewhat large for my “serving dishes”, so I cut them up into pieces. More efficient, but less attractive. I also rescued a few raspberries from the pot before they turned to mush, as I remembered that I still needed a few fresh ones for garnish.
And yes, those cookies were $8+ (and this was back in summer 2022, when I actually cooked this). Inflation strikes again, or just a consequence of shopping at the fancy market? I’m guessing that it’s a little bit from Column A, and a little bit from Column B…
Layering my cookies and ice cream as instructed.
Adding in the hot raspberries (this kills the ice cream).
Final picture–it was tough to get any sort of picture that didn’t look awful/dirty/blurry. I feel like theirs looked much saucier/elegant. Isn’t that always the case when you try to do these types of things?
Hope you had a nice Valentine’s Day either way (and that you got some “hot love”…ugh, that even makes ME cringe).
Grade: B+
