Valentine Chocolate Nutella Fruit Cups

What goes better with Valentine's Day than chocolate? And of course some fresh red berries are nice too. This is the Valentine's Day dessert I made this year for my valentine. All of my valentine desserts, as least from the past three years, seem to rely heavily on chocolate, include fresh berries, and feature hearts. 

This year's dessert is quite simple - a recipe isn't even required - yet it looks pretty and elegant and seems special. First I made chocolate cups - this is done by melting a good-quality chocolate and using a pastry brush to brush it on the inside of paper muffin cups, then chilling until firm. You may need to apply several coats for structure, I did three coats and used dark chocolate. Then I piped the cups full of nutella, or chocolate hazelnut spread, which I seem to like to use quite a bit lately. I guess I didn't get a good enough dose of nutella on World Nutella Day last week. It's just a great all-purpose chocolaty spread, but alternately chocolate mousse or chocolate pudding could be used instead. Next I placed fresh raspberries and blackberries on top (as strawberries are so expensive and tasteless at this time). I gently heated some raspberry jam and brushed it over the fruit to perserve them and add sweetness and shine. Then I sprinkled the cups with some finely chopped nuts for a little crunch, and added some white chocolate heart decor.

The idea for this dessert is simple and can be used to make a wide variety of different dessert possibilities - use any type of chocolate for the cups; any type of mousse, pudding, custard, yogurt, or preserves for the filling; and any type of fruits and nuts for the topping. You may also garnish with whipped cream, icing sugar, or a caramel drizzle.