11 Paleo Treats for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day (or Valentime's Day, as my students always called it) is right around the corner. Whether or not you're into the whole idea of a romantic holiday, it never hurts to make a special treat for yourself or someone you love, right? Especially a treat that involves chocolate.

Here's a roundup of 11 paleo desserts that are worthy of this special day. In case you're not as much of a chocolate lover as I am, though, I've included several fruity desserts here as well. There's one with both chocolate and fruit, and one with neither (but don't worry, there's plenty of salted caramel in that one).  Three of them are vegan, in case that's what you're looking for.

What are your plans for Valentine's Day?  Are you making a dessert (paleo or otherwise)? I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

Without further ado, here are 11 paleo treats for your Valentine's Day cooking pleasure!

Vanilla Bean Buttercream Brownies

The large amount of frosting on these brownies represents the large amount of love I have for you!  It constantly makes my day that people actually read my blog, and I'm even more thrilled when I get a comment or get to connect with you on FB, Twitter, or IG.  You are the best, and that is why I made you the best brownies.

I've been wanting to make frosted brownies for a while now.  They just seem fabulously over the top--because once you've baked a rich and fudgy brownie, you totally need a big pile of buttercream on top, right?  (Hint: the answer is yes!)

Lemon Sugar Cookies (Vegan, Nut-free)

I was invited to a Hanukah party last night, and needed to bring a dessert that was nut-free and vegan.  I wanted to bring a traditional Hanukah dessert, but soon realized I didn't know of any.  I guess I never really made it past the mountains of latkes at my family's Hanukah celebrations.  A quick search revealed that oily, fried foods like jelly-filled doughnuts are often eaten at Hanukah, but I wasn't about to fry up a big pile of donuts to be eaten hours later.  I also don't really like jelly-filled desserts; I feel that jelly belongs at breakfast.  Since I had dreidel and Star of David cookie cutters, I decided Hanukah sugar cookies would have to be traditional enough.  I also got out my snowman and snowflake cookie cutters, since winter is almost here.

My next task was to find a great vegan cookie recipe.  Since the cookies had to be nut-free, I soon realized it would be very hard to make them gluten-free as well.  So, these cookies are a total gluten bomb.  I promise to be back with more gluten-free eats very soon!