I requested some cocktail recipes before the end of the year and used only a couple.

Revisiting options i was given, I found one from Raising the Bar (Artisan Books, 2004) by Nick Mautone. It will look good on the dinner table if you plan to treat your Valentine to a home cooked meal on Valentine's Day.

Chocolate Covered Cherry

Makes two 3-ounce drinks

I first experience this combination of flavors served as a shooter, which is a shot, or small drink, that you gulp down in one sip. I quickly realized what a delight a slow-sipping version would be for lovers of chocolate-covered cherries. 

3 ounces Cherry Heering or cherry brandy

3 ounces dark crème de cacao

2 Maraschino Cherries or use store-bought

Glassware: Cocktail glasses 

Fill a pitcher with ice and add the Cherry Heering and crème de cacao. Stir briskly until the outside of the pitched is beaded with sweat and frosty. 

Strain into cocktail glasses, garnish with cherries, serve.

(* Recipe from 'Raising the Bar' by Nick Mautone -Artisan Books, 2004- Photography by Mette Randem, reproduced with permission)