Dairy-Free Desserts and Treats for Valentine's Day

If you have a child or spouse with a dairy allergy, or you yourself have a milk allergy, then you know how difficult holidays such as Valentine's Day that zero in on candy can be. The typical heart-shaped box of candy or chocolate roses may not be on your list of Valentine's Day goodies, but it doesn't mean that you cannot enjoy the treats of the day like everyone else. You just have to make them yourself!

Valentine's Day seems to revolve around chocolate, but don't forget the other candies out there, like sweet tarts or candy hearts. Putting some candy hearts in your child's lunch box will help them feel more included when everyone else pulls out their Valentine's candy. The other options are finding dairy-free chocolate, specifically dark chocolate, which are becoming more and more common in regular grocery stores but usually can be found in health food stores or bought online. Think of how surprised your dairy free child will be when they open their lunch box and find a treat they can eat that is similar to everyone else's!

If you want to make all of your Valentine's Day desserts yourself then you have quite a few options. Start the day with some pancakes with chocolate chips in them. Read the ingredients carefully but often you can make regular pancakes by substituting soy milk for the regular milk. Recently dairy free chocolate chips have begun showing up at health food stores but if your store does not have them you can always fall back on carob chips which are very close to real chocolate chips. Hershey's syrup is also dairy free so it can be placed in soy milk for a very chocolaty breakfast!

Chocolate-covered strawberries are a popular Valentine's Day treat. Melted dairy free chocolate chips could be used to dip the strawberries in or you could drizzle the strawberries with Hershey's syrup and leave them in the fridge for the afternoon so that the chocolate hardens. This would make a wonderfully romantic treat for you and your spouse to share or as a snack for your children before dinner.

Dairy-free chocolate cake with dairy free chocolate icing and topped with strawberries or chocolate syrup over apple slices would make a wonderful dessert. You can also search online for dairy free pudding recipes or buy them from your health food store. A martini glass filled with chocolate pudding with some strawberry or apple slices placed on top makes for a very fancy treat that your family will think you spent hours on!

A very special dessert for you and your spouse or to share with your family involves the simple ingredients of apples, honey, brown sugar and cinnamon. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Core an apple for each person and inside the apple place a tablespoon of brown sugar, a tablespoon of honey and a pinch of cinnamon. On top of that place a dollop of dairy free margarine and drizzle a little more honey on top. Then bake for 30 minutes. This makes a very special dessert that your family can have for Valentine's Day or when your apple tree gives you an abundance of apples!

A milk allergy, an intolerance, or just a desire to do without dairy, does not mean you have to do without on Valentine's Day or any day! Enjoy all the treats you can with your special someone!