Valentine's Day: A Sweet Tooth
BOSTON (CBS) - Valentine's Day is synonymous with candy. For many folks, the perfect Valentine gift is chocolate.
Chocolate is big business. Fifty-eight million pounds of chocolate was purchased for Valentine's day last year.
So if your sweetie has a sweet tooth, how about making something from scratch.
Think outside the box here (you know which box!) and bake some gourmet brownies or a chocolate cake from scratch. You can buy Ghirardelli chocolate, sitting right next to the Nestle, or Hershey chocolate in the grocery store.
I found an easy candy recipe for fudge and it is on the back of the Marshmallow Fluff jar. And chocolate chip cookies are a perennial favorite at my house and the recipe I like is on the back of the Nestle chip bag.
If the kitchen is not where you want to be, consider one of those heart shaped boxes of candy. About 40 million will be sold this Valentine's day. Not very original but will do in a pinch and you can buy them everywhere. Really, even the hardware stores.
A bag of Hershey chocolate kisses works well also; find something nice to put them in, like a basket, gift bag or a vase. It doesn't have to be big or fancy.
I thought I should include some of the fancy chocolate in my research like Lindt and Godiva. Both very good chocolate and today they are sold most everywhere in the US. I have found them at CVS, Target and Walmart.
I like buying the Lindt chocolate because they are produced in Stratham, New Hampshire. They also have an outlet store there which appeals to my thrifty side.
You can get some of their truffles and stick one in the kids' lunch as a treat. Also, if you are lactose intolerant they have dark chocolate that has no milk products.
I was in Switzerland last fall and Lindt had chocolatiers everywhere, including the airport. At 7 am they were busy making chocolate. I did buy some to bring home and some actually made the trip back.
....................
You can hear Dee Lee's expert financial advice on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 each weekday at 1:55 p.m., 3:55 p.m., and 7:55 p.m.
Subscribe to Dee's Money Matters newsletter here.
