I love making treats for special occasions.  But after two months of bad eating (thanks to the holidays, New Year’s, and the Super Bowl), I’m not feeling anything too heavy.  Here are some lightened-up bites I’ve made recently.  Hopefully one of these treats will help make your Valentine’s Day a little sweeter!

This is a recipe I adapted from FitSugar.  To make them, just microwave dark chocolate — the darker the better — with about a teaspoon of coconut oil.  Microwave on 20 second intervals until the chocolate is nearly melted, then stir the mixture until the chocolate is fully melted. Line a freezer-safe tray with parchment paper or a silpat.  On the tray, arrange almonds into a flower pattern.  Spoon a teaspoon of the dark chocolate into the center of the almonds, then finish with a sprinkle of unsweetened coconut. Freeze for a few hours, then pop them off the tray and into a smaller container.  Keep them in the freezer and you always have a crunchy, cold, chocolatey treat on hand when you desperately need one. Freezing the also prevents you from having to worry about the consistency of the chocolate, because it will stay firm in the freezer.

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This is a recipe from the blog Primal Palate.  When I made this recipe it was the first time I tried baking with almond flour.  They turned out really well!  However, the ingredients are a little expensive, especially to use in a quantity as large as what is required in the recipe (3 cups of almond flour and 1/2 a cup of maple syrup is pretty spendy!).  Still, they were a delicious snow day splurge.  I suggest refrigerating the dough for a little while before baking it, and I suggest taking them out when the tops are lightly golden, as they can get dark quickly! I added coconut to my dough; you could also add dried fruit or nuts!

These are my favorite of the three, and the simplest.  This is a recipe I made up with things in my pantry; the idea is loosely based off Chocolate Covered Katie’s Peanut Butter Balls.  I wanted something grain-free, though, so I substituted unsweetened coconut for the oatmeal.

To make, mash a banana in the bottom of a bowl.  Add a half a cup of nut butter, and mix together.  Add a cup of unsweetened coconut, and as many chocolate chips as you wish.  If the mixture doesn’t seem sticky enough, you can add more nut butter (or coconut butter), or a little maple syrup.  If the mixture seems too sticky, add some more coconut. You’ll freeze these and eat them frozen, so if the mixture stays sticky, that’s ok.

To finish, simply roll into a ball, place on a parchment-covered, freezer-safe tray, and freeze.  Or, if you want to have a little more V-Day fun and make it a less messy project, you could do as I did today and pop them into a heart-shaped mold:

Voila!  Low-effort cute, and healthy to boot!