Wow your valentine with a home-baked chocolate treat

Chocolate candies and roses are traditional Valentine's Day gifts for a reason -- they epitomize romance because they delight the senses. The deep red of the rose combines with its ethereal scent, while chocolate mixes an irresistible taste with an intoxicating aroma and a sexy feel as it melts over the tongue.

So by all means, buy candy and flowers for your honey (or honeys) this Valentine's Day. But this year, show your love by also cooking something temptingly, sinfully delicious.

A rich, homemade chocolate dessert shows you care enough to bake the very best.

And it doesn't even have to be hard to make something special. Alain Ducasse's Dark Chocolate Tart uses only four ingredients in the filling, yet it is the height of romantic elegance -- not to mention pure chocolate decadence.

All chocolate comes from a frankly ugly nut called the cacao bean (it's called a bean but it's technically a nut, in the way that tomatoes are technically a fruit). As is often the case, the highest-quality beans are in limited supply. Most cacao trees grow in Africa, though their quality is ordinary. What are generally considered the best beans are from South America, where they can grow fewer trees. Cacao trees also grow in Central America and the West Indies.

The process of turning cacao beans into, say, Hershey's Kisses, is long and fairly involved, but oh-so worth it. By themselves, the beans are quite bitter, but after they have been fermented, dried and roasted, they take on a flavor closer to what we know as chocolate. The Mayans and Aztecs used to serve it at this stage, cold, mixed with water, and topped with a foam created by pouring it from one vessel to another. The Aztecs prized cacao beans so greatly they even used them as currency.

European conquistadors brought cacao back with them to Europe in the 16th century, where it soon became fashionable among the upper classes. It was still too difficult and time-consuming to make to be available to anyone else, until Dutch chemist C.J. van Houten invented a method of separating what is known as cocoa butter from what became his invention, cocoa powder. This powder could easily be mixed with water or milk, could be used to form bars made of chocolate and could be spread on chocolate candies.

This process also was much less expensive to work with, and chocolate came to the masses. Van Houten Cocoa, invented in 1828, is still available today.

Cocoa is more than just a way of making hot chocolate, it is an integral ingredient in many forms of baking. Home cooks also use semisweet chocolate (at least 35 percent cocoa solids and sweetened with sugar, it is what makes most chocolate chips), bittersweet chocolate (at least 35 percent cocoa solids and sweetened with little or no sugar) and unsweetened chocolate (at least 75 percent cocoa solids and no sugar, it is suitable only for cooking or baking).

Today's recipes call for all of these types of chocolate. Semisweet and bittersweet chocolate can almost always be substituted for one another, but never use unsweetened in place of the other two; the result will be too bitter. You can customize your edible valentine by changing the proportions or mixing semisweet and bittersweet chocolates in your recipes.

Chocolate-covered strawberries are perhaps the easiest chocolate treat of all. Not only are they a simple presentation of chocolate, they also borrow the general shape and red color of a heart -- a valentine heart, that is. The shape and color of real hearts are, frankly, unappetizing.

Many people just melt chocolate in a double boiler or microwave (stirring every 20 seconds or so, to avoid burning) and then plunk their strawberries right into that. And that method works, to a point. But the chocolate that adheres to the fruit cools to a crunchy shell that shatters when you bite into it. The secret to making softer, slightly chewier chocolate is easy, but some people find the concept a little weird: Just add a little vegetable shortening to the chocolate as it melts.

The difference is striking.

From the simple to the sublime. Ducasse is considered one of the world's greatest chefs. The foods in his cookbooks are daunting and often beyond the abilities of the average home cook. But his Dark Chocolate Tart is an exception. It's as easy as pie, so to speak, especially if you just buy a premade pie crust.

The hardest part may be finding the creme fraiche the recipe requires. More or less mixing the richness of whipping cream with the slight tang of sour cream (though that isn't how it's made), creme fraiche is available at some of the fancier food markets. Look in the dairy section.

And from Sur La Table and Cindy Mushet comes what might be the best, most incredibly, chocolaty brownies ever. Mixing bittersweet with unsweetened chocolates creates a wonderful melange, particularly if you take the time -- and you should -- to top it with a simple and sinfully rich ganache. Use semisweet chocolate for the ganache and you're in chocolate-lovers'

heaven.

What better way to say "Be my Valentine"?

CHOCOLATE-DIPPED STRAWBERRIES

2 pints strawberries

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

1 (6-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips

Wash and dry strawberries. In double boiler over hot -- not boiling -- water, melt shortening with chocolate. Dip in berries to cover one-half to two-thirds of the fruit. Place on cookie sheet and refrigerate until set.

Yield: 2 pints,

-- "Glamour's Gourmet on the Run," by Jane Kirby

DARK CHOCOLATE TART

1 9-1/2-inch tart shell (recipe below) or store-bought pie crust

7 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg yolk

1 cup creme fraiche (see cook's note)

Cook's note: Creme fraiche is available in the dairy department of gourmet and specialty food stores.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Partially bake the tart shell: If using a frozen or refrigerated store-bought crust, line the crust with foil or parchment, weight it down with pie weights or dried beans or rice, and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Remove the foil and weights, and transfer to a wire rack to cool. If using the tart-shell recipe below, line it with foil or parchment, fill it with dried beans, rice or pastry weights, and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and weights, and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the milk to a boil, pour over the chocolate and stir gently until the chocolate is melted and smooth, being careful to avoid creating air bubbles.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolk with the creme fraiche. Add this mixture to the chocolate and stir to blend. Set aside to cool completely.

Preheat oven to 325. Pour the chocolate filling into the tart shell or pie crust. Bake in the center of the oven for 18-25 minutes, until the filling is just set; it will still be somewhat soft, but it will firm up as it cools. Transfer to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Yield: 8-12 servings

-- Adapted from "Ducasse Flavors of France," by Alain Ducasse with Linda Dannenberg

Tart Shell (Rich Sugar Pastry)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon baking powder (optional)

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, or more as needed

Combine the butter, confectioners' sugar, egg and baking powder (if using) in the bowl of the food processor and process until well blended, 5-7 seconds.

Add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and process until the dough just holds together.

It should be soft and pliable but not sticky; if it seems sticky, add up to 2 more tablespoons of flour and process for a few seconds until blended.

Gather the dough into a ball. Press into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 3 days (the dough can also be frozen for up to 1 month).

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a circle about 1/8-inch thick. Fit the dough into a fluted tart pan and trim off the excess. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before baking.

Yield: 1 tart shell

-- "Ducasse Flavors of France," by Alain Ducasse with Linda Dannenberg

CLASSIC FUDGY BROWNIES

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (up to 64 percent cacao), finely chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips or chunks (optional)

1/2 cup chopped nuts, toasted and completely cooled (optional)

Dark chocolate ganache (optional -- recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position an oven rack in the center. Line an 8-inch square cake pan with foil or parchment paper across the bottom and up two of the sides, then lightly coat with non-stick spray.

Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in the bottom of a double boiler. Place the butter, semisweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate in the top of the double boiler (off the heat). Turn off the heat, then set the butter and chocolate over the steaming water. Stir occasionally with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat and whisk in the sugar. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, stirring well to incorporate one before adding the other. Stir in the vanilla extract. Whisk in the flour and salt. Continue to stir until the mixture changes from dull and broken-looking to smooth and shiny, about 1 minute. Whisk in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it (do not overbake). Transfer to a rack and cool completely. If desired, frost with dark chocolate ganache, below.

Remove the brownies from the pan by pulling up on the foil or parchment. Cut into 16 equal pieces.

Yield: 16 brownies

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