Hello Lovers! I have just the Chocolate and Wine pairings for you!
Whatever you do to celebrate the most romantic and sensual day and night of the year, get the evening started with chocolate and wine pairings you’ll be dreaming about for days!
Make love sparkle with this bubbly and sexy Italian wine, Fizz 56. Fun, fresh, irresistible and tantalizing are just a few of the words to describe this lovely 100% Brachetto from Piedmonte, Italy. This charming red sparkler is brimming with juicy red strawberries, rose petals and raspberries. It’s natural sweetness and intense aromas are the perfect match for the deeply rich cocoa shortbread cookies with the crunchy cacao nibs or chocolate-dipped strawberries. A bouquet of flowers is all you need seal the deal with this pairing! As sweet as a first kiss…as seductive as the memory of it.
A port and chocolate pairing is sure steal your lover’s heart!
Broadbent Auction Reserve Ruby Port is a vibrant, intensely flavored inky-colored wine from Portugal made with big, bold Portuguese grapes with bold flavors and tannins. Brandy is added to maintain a high sugar percentage by stopping fermentation, therefore keeping an high alcohol level too. Intense flavors of dark blackberry, black cherries, and bittersweet dark chocolate fill your mouth and is then balanced with lots of tannins to stand up to all of the powerful flavors and sweetness. Broadbent Port paired with chocolate is a match made in heaven for lovers! The bold flavors of the buttery, intense chocolate shortbread cookies are equal to the boldness in the Broadbent Port.
Fall in love with Tennessee’s own Arrington Vineyard’s Blackberry Dessert Wine & Godiva’s chocolate covered strawberries hand-dipped by Felicia at Godiva Chocolates in Nashville! What better pairing could you think of? Pairing up this two berries is the perfect recipe for a snuggly Valentine’s night. Ripe and juicy strawberries with creamy white and dark Godiva chocolate melt in your mouth! And, every sip of AV’s Blackberry Dessert Wine will remind you of juicy memories of last summer’s mouthwatering tangy and ripe Tennessee blackberries and make you want more!
Great big SMOOCH to you all! Happy Valentine’s Day!
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons cacao nibs, crushed with a rolling pin
- 1 teaspoon fine or coarse sea salt
- 12 tablespoons (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Position the racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
- Combine the flour and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Combine the nibs and sea salt in another small bowl.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy, stopping as necessary to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix in the vanilla. Add about half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed. Add the remaining flour-cocoa mixture, stopping as necessary to scrape the bowl. Once incorporated, mix on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Mix in the nibs and salt. (The dough can be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.)
- On a lightly floured board, or between two pieces of parchment paper, roll the dough into a square ¼ inch thick. Cut into 1 by 2½-inch rectangles or other desired shape, by hand or with a cookie cutter, and place on the prepared pans about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 15 minutes, rotating the pans once halfway through baking. It is sometimes difficult to know when chocolate cookies are done. One of the best indications is the scent of baked cookies in the air. And when these shortbread cookies are gently nudged, they shouldn’t feel soft but the bottoms should seem crisp.
- Remove the pans from the oven and transfer the shortbread to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.