Chocolate hearts ♥️ (gluten free, vegan, nut free, refined sugar free).

I originally created these for a Halloween recipe, but they’d also be a lovely sweet treat for valentines. Whilst I’m not really a fan of Valentine’s Day, I love any excuse for creating some themed recipes 💗 so whether you call them ‘raspberry filled chocolate hearts’ or ‘bleeding chocolate hearts’ they are really simple to make, look impressive and most importantly, taste absolutely incredible.

Makes 6 medium-large hearts

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups good quality dark chocolate or chocolate chips. I use RealFoodSource organic chocolate drops

1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoons chia seeds

Optional: 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Things you'll need: heart shaped (or any shape) silicone moulds. Alternatively you can use cupcake cases.

Method:

Add the raspberries and a dash of water to pan and heat over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring and mashing occasionally. Turn down the heat, add the maple syrup and allow the liquid to reduce until you're left with a delicious syrupy jam. Remove from the heat, add the chia seeds and vanilla then leave to one side to cool.

Melt the chocolate and place 1 tbsp of chocolate (or enough to cover the bottom of your moulds/cases) into the heart moulds.

Pop into the freezer for 5 minutes or until they’ve set.

Add a dollop of the raspberry jam mixture into the middle of the hearts, leaving a slight border so you can encase the jam in chocolate.

Pour over the remaining chocolate so that the jam is fully covered. Pop in to the fridge to set.

Once set, remove from the moulds and enjoy ♥️