Ina Garten's 'Ultimate Valentine's Day Dessert' Is Deliciously Decadent

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Whether you're trying to impress your honey or your besties, Valentine's Day is the perfect time to show off your sweetest skills. When it comes to a dessert worthy of lots of love, Ina Garten said that her profiteroles are the perfect choice. "It's so simple yet so elegant. Your valentine will love you for it!" Garten shared in a Facebook post.

Buttery pastry puffs, creamy vanilla ice cream, and a rich, warm chocolate sauce all come together for a classy sweet treat. The flavor combination is straightforward, but each element of the dessert brings out the best in the other components.

Now, describing this dessert as "simple" may be relative here, as the Barefoot Contessa makes the choux pastry for her puffs from scratch. However, the profiterole filling and chocolate sauce do come together very easily. In fact, the Häagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream that the recipe calls for is one of Garten's simple freezer must-haves and definitely makes her "store-bought is fine" list. The sauce is made by melting semisweet chocolate chips with heavy cream in a double boiler, and it gets a gourmet upgrade with the addition of brewed coffee and honey — these ingredients add complex bitterness and floral undertones that elevate the chocolate sauce.

To assemble, halve the profiterole puffs, fill them with a scoop of the best vanilla ice cream, and finish them with a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Given that the filling is store-bought and the sauce takes all of five minutes to put together, investing a little effort into the pastry — especially to impress your valentine — is well worth it, according to Ina Garten and surely Jeffrey too!

These lovely profiteroles are an impressive Valentine's Day dessert just as Ina Garten serves them, but if you want to lean into the vibe of the lovey-dovey holiday, here are a couple ways to do that. For a pop of color, add a few sliced strawberries, a spoonful of cherry compote, or a layer of raspberry jam on the halved profiterole puffs before topping with a scoop of ice cream. All these fruits pair well with both chocolate and vanilla, and they bring a touch of acidity that brightens the dessert.

You can also assemble the profiteroles as Garten suggests and just sprinkle on some cute toppings right over the chocolate sauce. You can even set out a fun assortment of garnishes, and you and your date or pals can decorate them yourselves. Toasted sliced almonds, freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries, shredded coconut, white chocolate curls, or cutesy pink, red, and white Valentine's heart sprinkles are all great options.