I Don't Care if the Whole World Knows It.

I freaking love Valentine's Day.

I think Valentine's Day is for me what Hallowe'en is to other people.

I love the paper-y-ness of it. The chocolate-y-ness of it. The sweetness of it.

I have spent many a Valentine's Day alone in the past, and I even loved it then.

One really great thing for me this year is that I am back in Vancouver where Valentine's Day falls at a time of year where the trees are starting to bud, the birds are coming back and the temperature stays well above zero. This is the Valentine's Day weather I grew up with -- I never quite got used to the whole snowy Valentine's day thing in Toronto. I get that there is the potential for romance with that scenario, too, but I love the promise of spring that is in the air at this time of year here out West. 

Here is a recipe for some delicious beegan love elixir truffles for the healthy chocoholic in your life.

To taste, mush together about 2 parts raw almond butter (about 1/2 cup), 2 parts organic, fair trade, dutch process cocoa powder (about 1/2 cup)  with one part raw, hard honey or agave nectar  (about 1/4 cup -- less if you have less of a sweet tooth) and a tiny pinch of sea salt. (Discussion on why I, for the time being, am eating raw, local, i've-seen-where-it's-made-honey to happen another time -- sorry fellow vegans, I hope you still love me anyway -- I guess this makes me a beegan for now.) This should make a very thick fudge type thing. Taste and adjust however you like. Add more firm stuff if the agave nectar makes things too runny -- I make it with hard honey, so you're pioneering here. This is less of a recipe and more of a thing. Anyway, the stuff should be able to be formed into balls. Get it? Valentine's Day? Balls? Um, anyway.

Put this in the fridge, covered for an hour.

After the hour, in a double boiler or a metal bowl placed on top of a pot with a few inches of boiling (then lowered to a simmer) water in it, melt about 100 grams of organic, fair trade dark chocolate (I like Cocoa Camino bittersweet). Use a rubber spatula to swirl it around until it is silky and melted. Get NO water in it, or it will seize and look like crap.

Put this aside, and pull out your fudge. Using a teaspoon, scoop out and roll little balls with cold hands. Roll these little balls in the chocolate, and put your rolled truffle on some parchment or wax paper on a cookie sheet or plate.

Make a bunch of truffles.

Sprinkle the tops of them with some raw cane sugar or crushed, toasted almonds.

Put back in the fridge until they are as firm as your lovers' arms.

Happy Valentines Day, bitches.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo.h