Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Drizzle & Vanilla Meringues with Chocolate Candies

Happy Valentines Day!  We wanted to share some love and create two decadent desserts that you can indulge in on this day of love.  Make these desserts for your loved ones and they will surely know how much you care! Not only will you love these desserts, but your waistline will too!  It's Valentines Day, indulge! (And don't feel guilty going back for seconds! :) )


Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake with Chocolate Drizzle

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean, seeded
12 egg whites

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Chocolate Drizzle:
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup fat-free evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ounces milk chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Sift together flour and confectioner's sugar in a small bowl.  In different bowl, combine sugar and seeds of a vanilla bean.  (To do this, you must cut the vanilla bean lengthwise, and use the knife to scrape the tiny black seeds out of the pod.)   In a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar, salt, vanilla extract, and almond extract until soft peaks form.  Beat in the granulated sugar and vanilla bean mixture slowly, until the mixture creates stiff peaks.  Slowly, fold in the flour and powder sugar mixture. (Fold about 1/2 cup of the flour mixture at a time.)  Pour the fluffy mixture into an ungreased angel food cake pan.  Bake for 40 minutes or until top is golden brown and it springs back when lightly touched with finger.  Once done, invert the pan to cool. (We take three cans- same size- and balance the upside down cake on top of them.) Let cool for 30 minutes or so, and then use a knife to loosen cake onto a serving platter.

Directions for chocolate drizzle:
In a sauce pan, combine cocoa powder and sugar.  Slowly, whisk in evaporated milk until throughly combined.  Once combined, whisk mixture over medium heat until it simmers.  Take off the heat and add vanilla and chocolate chips, until melted.  Drizzle over angel food cake.  Throw in some chocolate covered strawberries and it's time to indulge :)



Vanilla Meringues with Chocolate Candies

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 TBS vanilla extract
Valentine Chocolate Candies (or M&MS- we found red chocolate candies at Sprouts!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.  In a large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar and then powdered sugar very slowly.  Add vanilla extract and beat until blended.  Fold in chocolate candies.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Spoon batter into small mounds on baking sheet.  (We made them pretty small- about 40 cookies per batch.) Make sure each mound has chocolate candies in them!  Bake for 90 minutes.  After 90 minutes, turn off the oven and let the cookies cool (in the oven) for another 90 minutes, or until dry.  Carefully remove the cookies- they are very fragile- and eat them up! These cookies are so low fat and low calorie and they definitely satisfy your chocolate cravings :)


HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! WE HOPE YOU FIND LOTS OF LOVE TODAY AND ALWAYS! ENJOY! :)