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Valentine's Day can be problematic. Are you in love? Out of love? Alone? In a partnership?  No matter your love status, you deserve something sweet, something special.

Sure, you could buy a box of chocolate, or a dozen roses, and be like everyone else. Or you could put on an apron and bake something to share the love.

Here are three desserts that work well for any season, any holiday, any day when you need a little lift. And if your true love happens to be football, rumor has it that there’s a little game this Sunday. Any of these would be ideal for a Super Bowl Sunday gathering. A textured, crunchy cookie chock full of fruit, oats and spices. A beautiful honey-filled cupcake. Or a simple loaf cake made with chocolate and sour cream with a chocolate-sour cream frosting. And a bonus recipe: a Mexican-style cinnamon-flavored hot chocolate.

This is a love letter to the cookie. Picture crisp, crunchy edges with a soft middle. Taste the warmth of cinnamon and nutmeg and the wake-up flavor of ground ginger, mixed with toasted pecans, oatmeal, earthy maple syrup and plump raisins or sun-dried cranberries. Meet the new oatmeal raisin cookie. The cookie dough is best after it’s been placed in the refrigerator to sit for at least one hour and up to 24 hours. This recipe can easily be doubled. These cookies tend to go fast so you may want to consider that.

My good friend, cookbook author Katherine Alford, developed these honey cupcakes for "Rage Baking." They are sweet but not cloying. Made with yogurt, honey and nutmeg, the cupcakes are topped with a simple cream cheese and honey frosting.  You can make or look for honeycomb candy to decorate the top of the cupcakes.

If a brownie and a chocolate cake got together it might taste something like this simple chocolate loaf cake. It’s rich and fudgy and works as well for dessert as it does as a snack with a cup of coffee or a pot of tea. I also think it would make a great breakfast cake as well. I mean, it’s February. Why not?

The top of the cake is sprinkled with coarse sea salt but you could also decorate it with raspberries, orange or tangerine sections, or grated chocolate. The cake will keep for several days and gets denser, and more fudge-like, as it sits. Cover and keep refrigerated.

For the chocolate-sour cream icing

*If using regular unsweetened cocoa powder, add an additional ⅛ teaspoon baking soda. 

This classic drink is adapted from a recipe by Rick Martinez, author of "Mi Cocina." The earthy flavor of cinnamon is infused into hot milk, and it’s then whisked with chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla and a hint of chili flakes. Top the drink with cinnamon-spiked whipped cream and it will warm up any winter day. The chile flakes heighten the flavor of the chocolate and add a wonderful flavor.

This segment aired on February 9, 2023.

Kathy Gunst Twitter Resident Chef, Here & Now Kathy Gunst is a James Beard Award-winning journalist and the author of 15 cookbooks.

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