Valentines cookie dough

Name: Valentine's Cookie Dough
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 53 min
Ingredients: 60 g unsalted butter/baking spread; 100 g dark/light brown soft sugar; 1 medium egg; 0.5 tsp vanilla extract; 100 g plain flour; 25 g cocoa powder; 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda; 100-150 g chopped chocolate

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This easy Valentine’s cookie dough is a quick, accessible take on a warm, molten dessert for two. Made with soft brown sugar, rich cocoa powder, and generous chunks of chopped chocolate, it takes just 15 minutes to prep and bakes to gooey perfection in 18 minutes. Yielding 2 generous portions, it’s ideal for romantic date nights

A spoonful missing from Valentines Cookie Dough with Ice Cream

Valentines baking

I love baking for any theme, we all know this – but I never do enough for Valentine’s Day. I am a firm believer that homemade gifts are the best gifts, especially when food is involved, and anything you can bake for the occasion is amazing.

I’ve made a chocolate cake for two, microwave brownies for two, and even some individual cookie dough desserts and they are all glorious and I want you to be inspired to bake with anything you can find on my blog. Whilst these bakes might be designed more for valentines, it can be for Galentine’s, if you have a friend coming over, or even something tasty for your kids to share.

Cookie Dough

When you are making a cookie dough of mine, generally the patterns all stay the same as I love the cookie dough, but the quantities and bake times vary depending on specifically which type of cookie you have in the oven.

Butter – I use block unsalted butter at room temperature, or I use a baking spread out of the fridge. You can also use a salted butter, and leave out the salt later on
Sugar – I used dark brown soft sugar because it’s what I had in the cupboard and I love the deep molasses flavour, but light brown soft and granulated sugar works well, also
Egg – because you are making a smaller amount of cookie dough, you ideally want a small/medium sized egg. If you only have a large, the cookie dough might just be a bit wetter
Vanilla – an optional, but wonderful addition to every bake
Flour – I adore using plain flour in cookies, ideally you want plain flour as you don’t want to use any raising agent such as baking powder in the flour otherwise it might have a cake texture
Cocoa – I use a strong 100% cocoa powder because I want to have a really powerful chocolate flavour
Raising agent – for a cookie, you want a small amount of bicarbonate for a good texture

A freshly baked Valentines Cookie Dough in a terracotta pot

Flavours & chocolates

I love vanilla in every bake as I have mentioned, but you can easily swap it up to different flavours – especially if there is something specific that your loved one prefers. I use 1/2 tsp vanilla extract in a bake, but you can use orange extract, almond extract, coffee – etc. All use the same ratios, but you can add as little or as much as you like.

You can also add flavours to a bake like this, but in spice form. A touch of 0.5-1tsp of ground ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc is all a wonderful addition to a cookie dough. Or, you can use chopped nuts – I love using pistachios, hazelnuts and pecans in a cookie bake – I just chop them up slightly and fold them through the cookie dough.

I, obviously, wanted to add chocolate to the cookie dough to make a bit of a molten centre, and I decided as it’s only a smaller amount, to use chunks of a chocolate bar broken up into pieces. For this, you can use any chocolate bar you want – whether it’s branded, supermarket own, etc. You can also use chocolate chips or callets.

Ice cream scooped onto a Valentines Cookie Dough

Baking

I used a baking dish that was 15cm wide, so anything around that size would work well. A small baking dish, or pie dish is great for this, as ideally you can serve the cookie dough directly in what you have baked it in. (My dish was from Habitat a long time ago)

I like to serve mine with a scoop of ice cream, and a drizzle of chocolate sauce – but chocolate ice cream, caramel ice cream, any ice cream would be GREAT. I personally love the contrast of a warm pudding with a cold ice cream. You can also drizzle with caramel, or leave it as it is.

FAQs

What size baking dish should I use for this recipe?

An ideal baking dish is a small round or square dish approximately 15cm (6 inches) wide. A small pie dish or cast-iron skillet works fantastically well. If your dish is slightly larger, check the bake at 15 minutes, as a thinner layer of dough will cook through faster.

Can I use a large egg instead of a medium egg?

Yes, but keep in mind that using a large egg will introduce a little extra liquid to the mixture. If your cookie dough looks a bit too wet after mixing, add an extra tablespoon of plain flour to balance the texture before pressing it into the dish.

Why is my cookie dough cakey instead of gooey?

A cakey texture is usually caused by using self-raising flour instead of plain flour, adding too much raising agent, or over baking the dessert. Stick strictly to plain flour and bicarbonate of soda, and pull the dish from the oven at around 18 minutes while the centre still has a gentle wobble.

Can I make the cookie dough in advance?

Absolutey. You can mix the cookie dough, press it into your baking dish, cover it securely with clingfilm, and store it in the fridge for up to 24 hours until you are ready to bake. If baking straight from the fridge, simply add 2 to 3 extra minutes to the bake time.

Valentine’s Cookie Dough

It's the day of love, and this Valentine's cookie dough it's gooey, chocolatey and perfect for two

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Category: Cookies, Dessert

Type: cookie dough, valentines

Keyword: Chocolate, Cookie Dough

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 18

Cooling time: 20

Total Time: 53

Servings: people

Author: Jane’s Patisserie

Ingredients

60 g unsalted butter/baking spread
100 g dark/light brown soft sugar
1 medium egg
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
100 g plain flour
25 g cocoa powder
0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100-150 g chopped chocolate

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºc/160ºc fan and grab a small baking dish – mine was a 15cm round dish
Beat the butter and sugar together until combined
Add the egg and vanilla and mix together
Add the plain flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate and mix in
Add the chocolate you like – I used a mix of milk and dark chocolate chopped up, and mix through
Press into the dish you are using
Bake for 15-20 minutes (I did 18 minutes)
Cool for 10-15 minutes, and thens serve warm with ice cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce

Notes

This dessert will last for 3-4 days once baked
You can freeze the cookie dough for three months

Storage and freezing

Covered securely, any remaining baked dessert will keep in the fridge for 3 to 4 days; simply pop a portion into the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds to make it soft, gooey, and warm again before serving.

If you want to prepare this dessert well in advance, the raw cookie dough is also custom-built for long-term freezing; press the prepared raw dough into a freezer-safe baking dish, wrap tightly in clingfilm, and freeze for up to three months.

Related recipes

When it comes to Valentine’s day, you want to show off, none of my recipes show off love quite like my Valentine’s Brownie or my Valentine’s Macarons.

If you wanted an easy bake that also makes an excellent expensive looking present try out my Valentine’s Chocolate Bark.