Valentine’s Day is only a couple of weeks away and I’ve been thinking about all the yummy recipes that I can make for the Valentines in my life. Someone on the Weelicious Facebook page suggested making fondue, which I thought was a perfect idea. What better way to get your little ones (and not so little ones) excited about eating than to give them a dessert that requires dipping!

Fondue is simpler to make than it sounds and the only issue for me was the amount of sugar normally found in most chocolate fondue recipes. After a bit of trial and error, I came up with this recipe that is smooth, creamy and perfect for dipping fresh fruits into. Even better, your kids will get a boost of protein from the almond butter, so they’ll get strong muscles to give you loads of loving hugs!

Chocolate Almond Butter Sauce (Makes 3/4 Cup)

1/4 Cup Almond Butter (I use smooth)
1/4 Cup Agave
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
2 Tbsp Hot Water

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Serve with sliced fresh fruit.

One food misconception I hear all the time is that eating healthy means sacrificing the foods you love most. For example, a bunch of my friends don’t like to let their kids have snacks like cake or cupcakes for all the obvious reasons and so the kids have to miss out on fun things like chocolate cupcakes at birthday parties. I can’t think of many things more heartbreaking than seeing a little one at a party having to eat a banana while all the other kids’ faces are covered in chocolate frosting. Well, here at weelicious, we’re always up for a challenge. Is there a healthy cupcake with absolutely no refined sugar that parents can be happy to serve their kids and even the most discriminating chocoholic will love?

Well, after testing these cupcake and ganache ( a fancy word for icing) recipes over a dozen times this past week, I can confidently say the answer is yes! Not only is this recipe delicious, it’s also the easiest version we tried. All you have to do is dump the ingredients into the mixer, stir, pour and bake! And by using agave instead of sugar, you sacrifice none of the flavor of traditional chocolate cupcakes. Another bonus? You can even make them vegan by using oil instead of butter and rice, almond or soy milk instead of cow’s milk. Either way, what you get is a light, perfectly sweet chocolate cupcake that every kid will love. I took a whole batch over to Kenya’s sports group on Monday and they disappeared in minutes and even the most health conscious moms were happy!

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes (12 Cupcakes)

1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Salt
1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup Butter (melted) OR Oil
2/3 Cup Agave
2/3 Cup Milk
1 Tsp Vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place ingredients in a mixer or mixing bowl in the order listed and mix well to combine. Batter should be free of lumps. (No need to sift the dry ingredients or place in separate bowls. This is a dump in the bowl, mix and bake recipe).
3. Line muffin tins with paper liners or bake in silicone muffin cups.
4. Fill cups 3/4 full with batter.
5. Bake for 20-22 minutes for regular sized and 15 minutes for mini cupcakes.
6. Cool.

Chocolate Ganache

1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
1/3 Cup Agave
2 Oz Unsweetened Chocolate, shaved
3 Oz Butter

1. Heat the cream and agave in a small saucepan just to a boil, whisking to combine.
2. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate to the pan.
3. Whisk thoroughly until chocolate is melted.
4. Pour into a bowl and add the butter 1 tbsp at a time until icing is smooth and butter is incorporated.
6. Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the icing.
7. Serve.

Tofu is one of those amazingly versatile foods that you can use in so many different ways. It’s flavor is neutral, allowing it to take on and absorb the flavors of whatever you are cooking with. Using it as a base in dips and sauces is delicious, but have you ever made a creamy pudding out of it? This chocolate tofu pudding is so silky and tasty, I guarantee your kids will never notice that it’s not the Jell-O kind from the box. Even Bill Cosby would be proud.

We tested this recipe 6 times with different brands of tofus and cocoa powders. At the end of the day, we decided that most brands of silken, or soft, tofu in your grocery store refrigerator section or “Mori-Nu silken firm un-refrigerated tofu” (sold at most healthy food stores) are the best options. Both tofus produced super smooth pudding results. We also played around with the amount of cocoa powder. You can use more or less cocoa then the amount called for in the recipe, but 1/3 cup seemed to produce a perfectly chocolaty pudding that wasn’t too light or too rich.

This recipe is also a great option for parents trying to watch their waistline. It’s low in fat and calories since there’s NO fat in cocoa powder and it’s not laden with sugar. My girlfriend came over for dinner and she and Kenya were hilarious digging into the pudding together and swallowing it so fast their dishes were empty within seconds!

Chocolate Tofu Pudding

1 14 Oz Package Soft Silken Tofu (I like House Foods soft silken or Mori-Nu firm silken)
1/3 Cup Pure Cocoa Powder
1/3 Cup Agave Nectar (feel free to use a little more if you want it sweeter)
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend to combine.
2. Scrape down the sides of the food processor and blend again to make sure everything is incorporated.
3. Serve immediately or chilled.