Chocolate Overload

A month where chocolates are often shared, so why not create something from chocolate instead?

Author

Tiffany Maxey
February 04, 2025

Happy February! The month of Valentine’s day and heart shaped sweets everywhere. I spent the past month with my kitchen covered in dust rather than flour so I can say with absolute certainty and enthusiasm that I am ready for the following weeks so I can get back in the kitchen and start baking again!

This has given me some unique perspective on preparing for not having an oven. If you find yourself in a position where you want to have fresh baked goods but can’t bake them, the freezer is your friend! I actually baked several types of bread: Buttermilk Dinner Rolls and Overnight Focaccia, allowed them to cool COMPLETELY, then froze them. I used the trick of a straw in a ziplock bag to suck out additional air to help keep them really fresh and I’m happy to report they were great out of the freezer. They weren’t EXACTLY like day I baked them but I’d say 95%. That’s good enough for me, especially when you’re stuck without much fresh cooking. If you have a vacuum sealer, avoid using that because it will take TOO MUCH air out and crush your bread.

Don’t worry, my blog isn’t going to be come a meal prepping blog. But these tips are also great if you make a big batch or have ingredients you want to use up and bake now but eat later.

Valentine’s Day is often thought of as a fake holiday, or the holiday of chocolate and flowers. Wherever you stand on the holiday, I think we can all stand behind chocolate baked goods so that’s where I went for this month. Chocolate everything. I think everyone will be able to connect with at least one of these recipes regardless of if you are planning to bake something for someone you love or that someone is YOU!

Here’s what’s coming this month:

  1.  Chocolate Sweet Rolls - Think cinnamon rolls but chocolate everything. Chocolate bread, chocolate filling, chocolate cream cheese frosting. A chocolate fiend’s dream breakfast treat!

  2. Black Velvet Cake with Vanilla Mascarpone Frosting - Red velvet is one of the most common/popular Valentine’s Day treats, so I wanted to create something that was even more richly chocolate but similar. The frosting on this is to die for!

  3. Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread - I love zucchini bread, and while chocolate chunks are good for me, that is not the case for everyone. Chocolate bread with chocolate chips makes it harder to get anymore chocolatey. Almost like cake for breakfast!

  4. Double Chocolate Chip Bagels - My first sweet bagel recipe! I’m usually staunchly in the savory bagel camp but these won me over big time. Often, I give away a lot of my bakes - especially those that might not be my favorite flavor. I intended to do that with these until I tried them and said just kidding, I’ll be eating these for breakfast this week! A nice traditional bagel with both white chocolate and milk/semi sweet chocolate chips!

Here are some other Valentine’s friendly bakes if you’re looking for something to bake today:

Is there a recipe you’d love to see on the blog or something you can’t work out on an existing recipe? Let me know! Until next month, happy baking!