Top 10 Valentine’s Day Desserts for Chocolate Lovers

What's a romantic holiday without some gooey rich chocolate? These 10 decadent dishes will satisfy any sweet tooth.

Plus: Cook one of these delicious dinners for your honey, or send a virtual love message with our new App!
1. Chocolate Peanut Cheesecake

Ready in a mere 22 minutes, this pressure-cooked cheesecake is a decadent treat made rich with peanut butter, bittersweet chocolate, and cream. Making this smooth-as-silk cheesecake topped with toasted peanuts and crunchy crumbled chocolate wafer cookies is easier than pie.Recipe: Chocolate Peanut Cheesecake





2. Cocoa-Gingerbread Brownies

With a few standard baking ingredients — flour, salt, semisweet chocolate morsels, baking soda, butter, and sugar — these luscious Cocoa-Gingerbread Brownies are whipped up and ready for dessert in no time. The fresh and powdered ginger add spicy but soothing warmth, while the rich chocolate satisfies the sweet tooth.



Recipe: Cocoa-Gingerbread Brownies

 3. Chocolate-Caramel Bread Pudding



Melted caramel coats this chocolate-chip challah-bread pudding, served warm.





Recipe: Chocolate-Caramel Bread Pudding










  
 4. "Hot" Chocolate Cake

This decadent cake pairs rich cocoa and bittersweet chocolate with a hint of spicy cayenne pepper — a warming choice for a winter snack.
 





Recipe: "Hot" Chocolate Cake
More Chocolate Cake Ideas

5. Chocolate Caramel Cream Pie






The cookie crust for this luscious cake only takes 10 minutes in the oven and the filling is no-bake. Use store-bought caramel sauce to save even more time.

 






Recipe: Chocolate Caramel Cream Pie

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Drama In Nature

Bay Bridge, San Francisco

Los Angeles Wildfires

Ipanema Beach, Rio de Janeiro

Autumn Landscape

Terraced Rice Field, China

Coastline, The Snares

Emperor Penguin Chicks, Antarctica

Best Bold Makeup and Fragrance

Lone Star

Y’all Come Back Ya Hear? is the standout sunset-orange shade from OPI’s new Texas-inspired collection.

Green Envy

Nars Soft Touch Shadow Pencil in Celebrate, a sour-apple green, lights up lids with a hint of neon.

Primary Colors

Lancôme Color Design Eye Shadows are ideal for high-pigment color-blocking. Pair electric blues All Made Up (above left) and Little Blue Dress (above right) with saffron Center Stage (below).

Firewater

Beyoncé’s Heat Rush Eau de Toilette ignites notes of Brazilian cherry, mango, and orchid.

Diamond Cut

Treasure the modern floral-pomegranate Versace Bright Crystal eau de toilette, now in a limited edition royal blue and pink ombré bottle.

Top Shops

 Kerut

ELLE’s Top Shop: Kerut, La Jolla, CA, 858-456-0800
What’s there: Timo Weiland draped lamé tanks, Earnest Sewn high-rise skinny jeans, and Circa Sixty Three bubble Bakelite cocktail rings
Projected wait-list items: Kara Ross’s spiderweb necklace, Rag & Bone’s cotton dinner jacket, Kimberly Ovitz’s diagonally buttoned Jennings shirt, and Geisha de Guadalupe’s yacht bag made of shellacked wood and buttery leather
Vibe: Complete with an ocean view and fully stocked bar, this beachy-cool refuge in the heart of La Jolla mixes distressed-wood floors and reclaimed “driftwood” shelves with midcentury Palm Springs influences.
Playlist: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jamie Johnston, Barrington Levy, and the Dirty Heads

The Violet Hour

ELLE’s Top Shop: The Violet Hour, San Antonio, 210-829-0388
What’s there: Black Halo cocktail dresses, Rachel Pally skirts, Loeffler Randall tops, Missoni scarves, and jewelry from Thea Grant and Erin Wasson’s LowLuv
Projected wait-list items: Nuj Novakhett’s emerald green miniskirt, Rebecca Minkoff’s lace boyfriend blazer, and Iosselliani’s Navajo-inspired necklaces
Vibe: Deep-purple walls, antique furniture, and a grand chandelier all contribute to this shop’s vintage elegance
Playlist: 1940s French cabaret, Steely Dan, Nina Simone, Neko Case, and My Morning Jacket

Loren

ELLE’s Top Shop: Loren, Brooklyn, NY; 347-529-5771
What’s there: Denim, denim, denim! Lips Jeans retro-inspired trousers; footwear collaborations with Keller and Heutchy; vintage button-downs handpicked by owner Loren Cronk on monthly Los Angeles buying trips
Projected wait-list items: House label Soldier and Brave’s high-waisted cropped jeans in supersoft stretch denim, BLKSMTH’s selvedge denim, vintage Guess pegged styles, and handmade unisex skinny belts
Vibe: Clean and crisp with an industrial feel (Cronk, a vet of Levi’s and Ralph Lauren, works on the house line in an open studio in the middle of the store)
Playlist: Santigold, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bat for Lashes, Arcade Fire, AC/DC, and the Rolling Stones

Broken English

ELLE’s Top Shop: Broken English, Santa Monica, CA,
310-458-2724
What’s there: Anita Ko pyramid stud earrings, Andrea Lieberman tribal bangles, Erin Wasson LowLuv cuffs, and Pamela Froman headlight hoop earrings
Projected wait-list items: Nomade Exquis vintage jewelry, C. Greene double ball cuff, Mimi Jakobson signet ring, Nina Runsdorf slice earrings
Vibe: Seasonal installations within the shop’s display cases allow for the minimally decorated space to change every few months—from a terrarium covered in moss and butterflies to a neon landscape inspired by a John Baldessari exhibition in L.A.
Playlist: Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Serge Gainsbourg, Marianne Faithfull, Karen O., A. A. Bondy, and John Coltrane.

Black Eyes Peas..THE TIME DIRTY BIT

Baby Langur..

10 Tips for Eating Healthy on the Cheap

Ramen noodles may be cheap, but they sure don’t offer much in the way of nutrition. In fact, it seems that all the affordable foods in the grocery store are pretty bad for you. However, there are ways to maintain a healthy diet for less. It takes some commitment and a little creative cooking, but the 10 tips below should help you out.

1. Stretch Your Meat – If you are indeed a carnivore, then you know how expensive meat can be. However, you can stretch your poultry and beef out by using healthy fillers like tofu and grains.

2. Make a Shopping List – By planning meals ahead of time and sticking to a shopping list, you will avoid any unnecessary (and unhealthy) impulse purchases.

3. Avoid Processed Foods – Starting with raw materials is not only cheaper, it will cut many preservatives and additives out of your diet. This can only improve your mental and physical well-being.

4. Drink Only Water – Your soda/coffee/juice/alcohol dependency isn’t doing your wallet or your body any favors. Water is the only liquid you will ever need to drink. So, put a filter on your tap and drink without guilt.

5. Buy In-Season Produce – A seasonal produce chart may help you do determine what will be cheapest at the store right now. Buying your favorite fruits and vegetables during the off-season can really cost you some major dough.

6. Shop at the Farmer’s Market – Are you paying gouged prices at your local health food store when you could be getting your food direct from local growers? Check out the local farmer’s market before heading to the grocery store.

7. Know Your Healthy, Cheap Staples – These include oatmeal, beans and rice. Foods that are filling, inexpensive and healthy should always be readily stocked in the kitchen.

8. Start a Vegetable Garden – Growing your own food is not only a cheap alternative, but also it offers many physical and mental benefits. Gardening is great exercise and helps to reduce stress, so there are many reasons to take up the hobby.

9. Avoid the Drive-Thru – When trying to save money and your life, the drive-thru can be your worst enemy. Dollar menus exist, but they are usually filled with deep-fried horrors. If you can find a 99 cent baked potato, however, knock yourself out.

10. Clip Coupons – This is an obvious way to save some money on food. However, be sure to only save coupons for healthy foods, no matter how much those Oreos are marked down.

Believe it or not, there are actually healthy foods that won’t cost an arm and a leg. You should also consider the ways you indirectly save money by eating well. Being healthy means having a higher immunity and making fewer trips to the doctor, for example. Whatever the reasons for making wiser decisions in your diet, you don’t have to spend a fortune at the local health food store to do it.

No Strings? No Problem

Hollywood's focus on the 'friends with benefits' phenomenon behind "No Strings Attached"

Ah, the joys of modern friendship: knowing that your loyal pal is always going to be there for you—as a shoulder to cry on, a buddy to laugh with, or…a sexual partner whenever you're in the mood.

Recent studies have found that the practice of having sex with a good friend without any romantic strings attached—a type of relationship often known as "friends with benefits"— is becoming increasingly common among young people. Hollywood is just now catching up with the real-life trend: In a slew of upcoming film and television offerings, "sex buddies" will take center stage.

No Strings Attached, a romantic comedy hitting theaters on Friday, stars Natalie Portman as a busy young doctor who enjoys having sex but doesn't have the time or patience for traditional dating. As such, she establishes a purely physical relationship with her close guy friend (Ashton Kutcher), with the understanding that neither one of them will let any romantic feelings enter the picture. (Or so they think.)

"I am a huge romantic-comedy fan," says the film's writer, 28-year-old Elizabeth Meriwether "and I hadn't really seen a romantic comedy that felt like it was about my life or my friends' lives." So she set out to write a rom-com "that felt real and that didn't end with a kiss, but started with one."

Meriwether also "didn't want to tell the story of some girl who has been planning her wedding since she was a little kid—I wanted to tell a story about a girl who has other things going on and who doesn't necessarily want the things we expect girls to want." Indeed, Meriwether's script takes many of the previously established norms of the romantic-comedy genre and turns them upside down. A "morning after" scene, for example, features Kutcher's and Portman's characters waking up together, mortified—not because they'd had sex the night before but because they'd spent the night cuddling. "A lightbulb went off in my head," says Meriwether about conceiving the on-screen moment. "It was like, this is the scene where they are totally embarrassed—when they wake up fully clothed, spooning each other."
On the small screen, NBC will feature a Brian Grazer–produced comedy this spring called Friends With Benefits, from the writers of (500) Days of Summer. The concept of friends enjoying a physical but nonromantic relationship is "essentially the jumping-off point for the show," says cowriter Scott Neustadter, 33. Two of the show's main characters are "a guy and a girl who are great friends—they might even love each other," says Neustadter, "but their priorities are different, the timing isn't right, and for lots of reasons they simply wouldn't make for a very good couple. Each one is searching for that perfect person, but in the meantime, it's nice to know that there's someone you can turn to in all matters, who is waiting on the other line—or on the other side of the bed." Thanks to the "relaxing of labels," says Neustadter, these two characters "can absolutely have a physical relationship without having a romantic one."

Still hungering for more "friends with benefits"–themed entertainment? You're in luck. Portman's Black Swan costar Mila Kunis teams up with Justin Timberlake, playing a pair of pals who use each other for sexual satisfaction in a romantic comedy directed by Will Gluck (Easy A) coming to theaters this summer. Its title? You guessed it: Friends With Benefits. (As if all this weren't confusing enough, Friends With Benefits was also, at one point, the name of the Natalie Portman movie.)

Katy Perry: 'I Was Shaped Like a Square'

She may be known for her curvy physique now, but Katy Perry wasn't always so hot. "I was shaped like a square at one time," she reveals in the new issue of Elle. "I was! I'm generally around 130 pounds, which is totally fine for me. But when I was a kid, I was the same height and weighed more like 145. All I wanted was to look like Kate Moss. Little did I know ... that these things would come in handy someday."

That's putting it mildly! Katy makes the most of her shapely status these days in videos like "California Gurls" and "Teenage Dream," and she makes no apologies for it. "We're past that. I'm a sexy girl, so what? I never claimed I was a nun!"

Behind Our March Cover: Katy Perry

Katy describes her current style, which includes anything from the glow-in-the-dark dress she wore to last year's Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute gala to the blue wig she donned for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, as a "Bettie Page meets Wonder Woman meets Doris Day meets Judy Jetson meets Natalie Wood meets Daphne Guinness meets Chloe Sevigny kind of look."

Katy goes retro in white. ELLE Magazine

Red Carpet Buzz: Katy Perry in Jenny Packham
Katy surprised everyone, though, when she showed just how traditional she really is by marrying and domesticating funny guy Russell Brand. The two wed in October 2010 after a little more than a year together ... and plan to have kids eventually! "Everything clicked really fast," she says. "We kind of instantly got past all the surfacey stuff. And ever since then, there hasn't been a dull moment."






 
Since her personal life is going so well, Katy says most of her energy is focused on her busy career. The "Firework" singer is up for four Grammy awards next week. "I feel like I'm at a point in my life right now where I could potentially stick around," she says. "I don't feel like a diva, but I think diva is a great and powerful word in the sense of what Beyonce makes it. And maybe I can't be Beyonce, but maybe I can be Cyndi Lauper. I mean be like her, not be her. That would just be weird."

The lady wears red. ELLE Magazine

Lindsay's Court Date Dress

La Lohan never fails to attract attention when she makes an entrance!

Amidst throngs of reporters, fans, and curious onlookers, Lindsay Lohan showed up for her arraignment on felony grand theft charges with every intention of owning the spotlight Wednesday in Los Angeles. Sporting a figure-hugging white knit mini dress paired with black pumps, Chanel sunglasses, newly-colored tresses, and a spray tan, there was no way you could miss her.

The actress was formally charged earlier in the day for stealing a necklace worth $2,500 from a jewelry store in Venice Beach, California, on January 22, 2011. As she's still on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case, Lohan, 24, could potentially faces several years in state prison if convicted of the crime. Lindsay pled not guilty to the charges leveled against her, and her attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley, also denied Lohan lifted the merchandise, though the actress has been previously accused of stealing multiple times over the past two years. Lohan's bail was set at $40,000, and her next hearing is scheduled for February 23.

Lindsay Lohan shows up to court sporting a body-hugging white dress.
As opposed to the somber suits and neutral colors Lohan has donned to previous court dates, this time the embattled actress's outfit looked more appropriate for a celebrity product launch party or a night out on the town.

Seriously, what was she thinking? The "Mean Girls" starlet was spotted getting her hair done for over two and a half hours Tuesday night at a fancy Beverly Hills hair salon, so she obviously put some thought into her appearance. Perhaps Lindsay's lily white outfit was her way of proclaiming her innocence? Because she had to have known there was no way her ensemble was going to fly under the radar.

Check out some of Lindsay's past court ensembles

Lindsay at the Beverly Hills Courthouse, September 24, 2010

Lindsay at the Santa Monica Courthouse, February 8, 2011.

Lindsay at the Beverly Hills Courthouse, July 20, 2010.

Lindsay at the Santa Monica Courthouse, Sept 1, 2010