My Guilt-Free #Chocolate Bliss for Valentine’s Day from author @CleoCoyle #ValentinesDay

With Valentine's Day upon us, I thought this recipe might just hit the spot. Why? Served with coffee, tea, espresso, or cocoa, these elegant treats have very few calories (fulfilling my guilt-free claim) yet they bring amazing flavor to your palate, and all three ingredients used in this recipe have long been considered to be a friend of Cupid...

🍩 CHOCOLATE, of course, is the classic Valentine’s Day consumable. The Aztecs were probably the first to make the connection between amorous feelings and the cocoa bean. The emperor Montezuma was said to have fueled his romantic trysts by ingesting large amounts of the bean.

🌹 CINNAMON is a delightful, fragrant, and stimulating spice. The Romans believed cinnamon was an aphrodisiac. Cleopatra famously used it to arouse her many lovers.

☕ COFFEE AND TEA contain caffeine, which is considered a perk in the department of stimulating amorous desires. And here's a bit of historic trivia for coffee lovers. When coffee was first introduced to the Turkish culture, husbands were expected to keep their wives well supplied. If the husband could not provide daily coffee for his wife, this was considered a legitimate cause for her to divorce him. Alternatively, a wife's ability to make coffee was one of the ways a husband decided whether she was a good match for marriage.

So what is this dessert that combines 

chocolate + cinnamon + coffee (espresso or tea)?

I'll tell you...

CHOCOLATE-DIPPED CINNAMON STICKS

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☕ A Note from Cleo

I came up with this idea years ago when I finished baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies and had extra chips. I saw the cinnamon sticks on my shelf and decided to chocolate-coat them for a sensuous dessert experience--with very few calories!

     Simply stir a chocolate-coated cinnamon stick into your cup of hot coffee (espresso, tea or cocoa). Stir only enough to re-warm the chocolate. Place the stick into your mouth and enjoy the flavors of warm chocolate and cinnamon, which combine with the coffee to create a lovely after-dinner sensation. 

     As for the recipe itself, this is more of a "process with tips" than a recipe. But I wanted you to know all the tricks needed for foolproof results (Belive me, there are far too many ways to muck up the melting of chocolate and the dipping of things in it...so I hope all the directions help.)

 Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! 

~ Cleo  💗

☕ Cleo Coyle's

Chocolate-Dipped Cinnamon Sticks

Ingredients:

12 cinnamon sticks (the longer the better)
1/2 cup white, milk, or dark chocolate chips (or about 4 ounces of block chocolate, chopped)

Step 1 – Prepare drying area: When the chocolate-covered sticks are wet, they’ll drip melted chocolate (obviously). So you'll need to prep a safe area for the sticks to dry. Here are two methods: (A) egg carton and (B) wax paper...

A. Egg carton method – Remove the top from an egg carton. Place it on a large dish. Using a knife, make a small incision in the carton top. To make sure the incision is large enough, insert one end of your cinnamon stick into the carton. Repeat for all 12 sticks. 

See my photo below. I suggest you use the carton top only, which is sturdier. The egg carton bottom is tricky and although you see me using it in the photo, the sticks tend to move around more on the carton bottoms.

Note: The top of the egg carton actually provides more

stability than the bottom. So I suggest you use the

entire top of the carton and forget about the bottom.

 

 
B. Wax paper method – Place wax paper over a large, flat dish. The only drawback with this method is appearance. Your chocolate-covered cinnamon sticks will still taste delicious but there will be a funny sort of flat side to your stick. If you want prettier sticks, use my method A (the egg carton). NOTE: If you have no wax paper, do no use paper towels or a naked dish! The chocolate will adhere to these surfaces and your sticks will be ruined. Parchment paper and aluminum foil are better alternatives.

The top stick was made with my egg carton method.

The bottom was made using the wax paper method.

Both of these treats will taste great. The egg carton method

simply looks nicer for presentation. Note also that

cinnamon sticks come in different lengths. For this recipe,

the longer sticks are easier to work with.

Step 2 – Melt Chocolate: Place ½ cup chocolate chips (or about 4 ounces of block chocolate, chopped) into a microwave safe bowl (glass or ceramic is best). I use my Pyrex measuring cup. Chocolate burns easily, especially white and milk chocolates, which have more milk solids, so you really need to be careful when you melt chocoalte in a microwave. And here's what I mean...

Heat it for about 20 seconds. Remove the bowl and stir (make sure the spoon is dry because moisture will make the chocolate seize up). The chocolate won’t be completely melted yet, but you need to stir it to prevent burning. Now microwave it for another 10 seconds. Remove and stir again. Continue this process until the chocolate is completely melted.

Step 3 – Dip sticks (I know, sounds funny, doesn't it?): Okay, one at a time, dip one end of each cinnamon stick into the melted chocolate. Allow excess chocolate to drip off the stick, back into the bowl. Spin the stick around slowly until the drips stop completely. Now place the clean end of the stick (the end you’re holding) into the prepared egg carton.

Step 4 – Wait: The chocolate must dry and harden. Give it about an hour before touching. To speed up this process, carefully move the dish (on which you’ve placed either the egg carton or wax paper) into the refrigerator for about thirty minutes.

TO SERVE: Once the chocolate hardens, you're ready to use. Lightly stir the chocolate-covered stick into your cup of hot coffee (espresso, tea or cocoa). Stir only enough to re-warm the chocolate. The flavors of warm chocolate and cinnamon combine with the coffee to create a lovely after-dinner sensation with very few calories. A perfectly blissful ending to a romantic meal.

TO STORE: Once the chocolate is completely hardened, simply place sticks in a plastic baggie and store in your refrigerator.

Happy Valentine's Day!

~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author

of The Coffeehouse Mysteries and

Haunted Bookshop Mysteries

Cleo (Alice) with her husband Marc

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