With Valentine’s Day around the corner, no matter how you feel about this rather contrived “holiday” this seems like the perfect time to feature a Chocolate Recipe Roundup, showcasing … wait for it … 14 chocolate favourites at any time of the year.

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You may be a hopeless romantic who embraces Valentine’s Day in all its hearts and flowers glory. Or, you may find this so-called holiday contrived and an unwelcome source of pressure whether or not you have a significant other. Or, it simply may not be on your radar screen. For those of us in one of the first two categories, our thoughts can’t help but turn to chocolate. And for many in the third category, we’re thinking about chocolate regardless.

Whether it’s a gift to or from your love interest, or consolation for not having a love interest, or just your favourite way to treat yourself and love has nothing to do with it, thank you very much, chocolate is highly irresistible. You’ll appreciate these 14 ways to enjoy chocolate in all its sweet and healthful (well yes, it certainly can be) glory.

Chocolate Recipe Roundup: 14 Favourites at the Urban Cottage

In putting together this collection from among the many chocolate recipes on the blog, I had a few criteria. I wanted to feature the more inventive recipes that I’ve developed, those which use milk or dark chocolate but not white chocolate, and some that showcase the nutritious side of chocolate.

Here are my top 14 picks, starting with some of my particular favourites. Although, really, they’re all pretty much favourites. And okay, this first one? I also decided to start with it because there’s a lot of red in the photos and, well, Valentine’s Day …

Here’s what’s in store for you in this post:

• Raspberry Chocolate Bread Pudding
• Chocolate Buckwheat Pancakes
• Chocolate Ginger Granola
• Black Forest Cake (with shortcuts to make your life easier!)
• Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream
• Chocolate, Cherry and Pistachio Macaroon Meringues
• Raspberry Cacao Smoothie
• Chocolate Whisky Maple Cake
• Dark Chocolate Sour Cherry Cookies
• Choco-Caramelicious Patties
• Chocolate Avocado Mousse
• Chocolate Banana Bread
• Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta
• Chocolate Chip Cookies

Raspberry Chocolate Bread Pudding

Such a celebratory dish this is, whether for a Valentine’s evening morning-after breakfast (lucky you), Christmas brunch (as evidenced by the ornaments in the photo), or even an indulgent dessert for a dinner party. And berries and chocolate are a classic pairing. Enjoy this Raspberry Chocolate Bread Pudding.

Chocolate Buckwheat Pancakes

I created this recipe for Chocolate Buckwheat Pancakes less than two years ago, and have made it more than almost any other on the blog in over eight years. It means so much to me because my granddaughters absolutely love it. Every single sleepover we have ends with chocolate pancakes for breakfast, and the girls usually help me make them. As written, the recipe is full of nutritional goodness, with cacao powder, minimal sweetness from coconut sugar, healthful buckwheat flour, and so on. It’s also highly adaptable … I’ve made it with a variety of flours, sugars, and cocoa powder instead of cacao. Whether the original recipe or adapted, they are always, always, topped with pure maple syrup.

Chocolate Ginger Granola

I spent a long time developing this recipe, and am so proud of how it turned out. Chocolate Ginger Granola is sweetened with maple syrup, flavoured with rich cocoa powder and ground ginger, and festooned with chunks of almonds. If that’s not enough, it ventures into premium granola territory with the addition of cacao nibs, the warming bite of chewy crystallized ginger, the sour tang of dried cherries and an added bonus of shredded coconut. Your morning yogourt will never be the same.

Black Forest Cake

I’m including this rustic Black Forest Cake in the chocolate recipe roundup because it includes some hacks to remind us that baking is about more than performance art and showing off your skills. It’s about making food that pleases the people you care about — taking a few shortcuts doesn’t detract from that caring message. My first shortcut in this recipe was to use Ricardo’s recipe for Chocolate Genoise Cake, but you could easily use a cake mix. Be your own Valentine and go easy on yourself!

Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

I developed this recipe for the third birthday of a sweet Little Miss who loves chocolate, strawberries, and as you might guess, the colour pink. And yes, she loved these Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream. The chocolate in this cupcake is mild, so the taste of the strawberry puree still comes through in the cake. The melange of strawberry and cocoa results in a taupe colour with just a whisper of pink undertone. 

Chocolate, Cherry & Pistachio Macaroon Meringues

This crisp and light, yet dense and chewy, cookie is what happens when when a light and airy meringue meets a chewy macaroon and is embellished with cacao, fruit and nuts. Not only that, but these Chocolate, Cherry & Pistachio Macaroon Meringues are simply hands-down elegant. Oh yes, and also delicious. Yes, I have a horn and I’m going to toot it.

Raspberry Cacao Smoothie

This smoothie is far more sophisticated than most chocolate beverages. In fact, it’s bitter, sweet and healthful. The Raspberry Cacao Smoothie combines the goodness of raspberries with the most nutritionally rich form of chocolate, and even has some spinach in there. It is a smoothie after all. And, it’s sweetened with Medjool dates. Do yourself a favour, and try this one. You’ll be glad you did.

Chocolate Whisky Maple Cake

If you love both chocolate and whisky, this is the cake for you. The maple syrup used throughout the cake is yet another point in its favour. Chocolate Whisky Maple Cake is dense and rich, with a fine crumb. The chocolate flavour is deep and the whisky is warming. It’s definitely not a Valentine’s treat to share with the kiddies!

Dark Chocolate Sour Cherry Cookies

These adult-oriented cookies are boldly seductive. Made with dark chocolate and cocoa powder, the batter is lusciously chocolatey. The dried sour cherries add a complementary fruity tang, and a lavish dollop of almond extract brings all the flavours together. Once baked, the cookies are slightly crisp on the outside, yielding to the tooth to reveal a dark, tender interior. These Dark Chocolate Sour Cherry Cookies say Be My Valentine’s Crush, or who needs love when you have cookies like these?

Choco-Caramelicious Patties

These chocolate caramel treats are just the thing for when friends drop by. A cup of tea and one or two of these will fuel a good chat. But hey, wanna hear a secret? That caramel? It’s not really caramel. Instead, it’s dates processed with some nut butter, honey and other goodness. These Choco-Caramelicious Patties prove that indulgence comes in unexpected forms.

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

Celebrate or ignore Valentine’s Day with this luscious, rich Chocolate Avocado Mousse. The avocado disappears into the gently sweetened and intensely chocolatey flavour of this pudding. The recipe is vegan and also accommodates your special someone with a dairy sensitivity. Oh, and it’s refined sugar free, gluten free, and raw, too. It checks a lot of boxes, especially the one labeled delicious.

Looking for more gluten-free recipes? Check out my friend Cathy’s blog, Cathy’s Gluten Free. Why not start with her recipe for Chocolate Almond Bark?

Chocolate Banana Bread

If you have a banana bread enthusiast in your life, like I do in my son-in-law, you might like to switch things up every now and then. There’s nothing boring about a classic banana bread, but why not jazz it up with chocolate once in a while? And dare I say it, this Chocolate Banana Bread may even be good for you. In addition to all the regular goodness, I’ve added some stealth nutrition with virtually undetectable ground flax seeds and hemp seeds. It also uses coconut sugar, which has a lower glycemic level than refined white sugar. So hey, have a second slice

Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta

I’ve billed this as a low-effort, high-pizzazz dessert. This spin on the classic Italian “cooked cream” is a refined, gently quivering dessert with subtle notes of chocolate and sweetness. Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta takes only about 15 minutes to put together, but be sure you allow at least four hours for it to set. You can use that time to run out and frantically search for the right Valentine’s Day card and order flowers.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

They say that love conquers all, and so does a good chocolate chip cookie. This is my idea of the ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies: thin and crisp yet chewy, with just the right amount of chocolate, sweet but not overly so, and audaciously big. It’s currently the most popular chocolate recipe on Urban Cottage Life. Bake up a batch of these and your Valentine just may come knocking at your door. Of course, if you want to eat them all yourself, no one says you have to answer.

Has the Chocolate Recipe Roundup Sparked a Chocolate Craving?

I hope you’ve enjoyed reviewing these 14 recipes that feature luscious chocolate in many forms. And if this roundup has sparked a craving, I know I’ve done my job well. Valentine’s Day or not, treat yourself!