Dessert Your Friends with a Valentine’s Party

Fall in LOVE with our sweet and dreamy recipes for…

Chocolate-Glazed Brownie Cookies

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

Sour Cherry Almond Bars

Heart-Shaped Iced
Cookies

White Chocolate Martini

Create a Valentine Fantasy Dessert & Coffee Party

Let’s face it, just as weddings are all about the bride, Valentine’s Day is another day that’s really for the girls. If it were banished from the calendar forever, most guys would do a little victory dance on some imaginary football field.

Women, on the other hand, love this holiday about love. So on February 14, your significant other—husband, boyfriend, fiancé, long-time companion—like it or not, will hopefully fulfill the obligation and take you out somewhere nice for dinner.

But wouldn’t you like to stretch out the holiday a little? Maybe have some other ladies over to celebrate in anticipation of the heart-shaped holiday?

For the Ladies Only

Well, the chefs at The Food Channel have cooked up something sweet, girly, and totally yummy for just such an affair. It’s our first annual “Ladies Only Valentine’s Fantasy Dessert & Coffee Party.” So call up your gal-pals and invite them over for some sweet treats you will create with your own two hands.

Love Is in the Air…and Out of the Oven

Our Valentine’s dessert table offers an abundance of decadence. Lots of chocolate of course, featured in our Chocolate-Glazed Brownie Cookies and luscious Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries. Our Sour Cherry Almond Bars are light, sweet wonders. Plus, the chefs will show you a short cut way to make beautiful heart-shaped iced cookies.

Oh, and did I mention the White Chocolate Martini? Now that will definitely enhance the mood. (What, you didn’t know that chocolate is a mood lifter?)

Anyway…our chefs and party hostesses have offered a few other tips to make your Gal-Val Party a memorable one.

• Flowers add beauty, color and class. Rather than buying a lot of different types of flowers or arrangements, purchase a larger amount of one kind of flower, such as roses. Supermarkets and club stores (e.g., Sam’s Club) offer flowers at considerably lower prices than florists. Arrange the flowers in a variety of vases, grouping them in clusters of complementary colors. And get rid of the baby’s breath.

• Set out an eclectic variety of plates. Vary the sizes, shapes and styles.

• Arrange a few candles of varying heights.

• Use pedestal plates if you have them; they add visual interest and sophistication.

• Wrap some of your cookies in cellophane and ribbon as takeaway party favors or parting gifts.

• Set out a pretty gift box or two filled with nice truffles from the candy store.

• Offer a variety of coffees and teas (including decaf).

• And the most important thing, don’t stress. Just have fun. Maybe you can even talk your significant other into helping with baking and taste-testing.