These local chocolates, cookies, and cakes are the perfect gifts for your health-conscious loved ones in this month of love
Did you know that sending and sharing food correlates with “receiving gifts” and “acts of service,” two out of the five love languages espoused by Dr. Gary Chapman? With food being a surefire way to make someone’s day better, why not gift your loved ones with our top picks for sweets down below? The best thing about gifting food is that you can share them, maybe even during a picnic or a special dinner for two. From a gluten-free red velvet cake with fresh blueberries to boxes full of single-origin chocolates and everlasting flowers, these Valentine’s Day exclusives are well worth the price.
Tigre y Oliva
Tigre y Oliva is a well-loved Filipino brand famous for their single-origin chocolates, craftsmanship, and sustainability efforts. For the whole month of February, you can purchase their Big Valentine Gift Basket, which is composed of their Pili Butter Bars, Valentine Bombs, White Chocolate Bark, Triple Cacao Bark, Red Velvet Cookies, Blondies, Almond Nut Butter Spread, Banana Jar, Mango Jar, and Tupi Bar, along with dried flowers. You can also buy a smaller variation of this gift basket or get the treats separately. For something healthier, we suggest looking into their vegan line, with products ranging from dark chocolate to chocolatey granola chunks.
Theo & Philo
Another Filipino brand with a rich history is Theo & Philo, which translates to “chocolate and love.” Their single-origin chocolates use high-quality local ingredients such as cacao beans from Davao and sugar from Bacolod. To gift your Valentine’s date with a bundle of chocolates complete with flowers, choose the Be My Valentine’s Box or the Garden of Love Box. Both boxes are filled with everlasting flowers and a forever rose and let you choose between three variants of chocolates, namely, coconut milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and pandan vegan white chocolate. We highly recommend choosing the third variant as they’re not just delicious, but also vegan and gluten-free.
Auro Chocolate
Auro Chocolate is a Filipino chocolate brand that promotes sustainability by working directly with local farmers to create their internationally awarded tree-to-bar chocolates. Get a taste of the best of what the brand has to offer with its Bonbons, which are handcrafted and come in nine flavors ensconced in milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate shells. These flavors are Tonka Bean, Calamansi Pink Peppercorn, Hazelnut, Caramel Beurre Salé, Paquibato Single Estate, Ube Pinipig, Café, Sicilian Pistachio, and Baguio Strawberry Basil. Alternatively, you can opt for their vegan Dark Chocolate Covered Freeze Dried Mango Crunch, Nibs Collection Gift Set, or their Heritage Collection Gift Set—all of which have gluten-free and peanut-free choices.
Healthy Bean
If you’d like to go the extra mile with baked goods aimed directly at health-conscious individuals, try out the treats and pastries from Healthy Bean. For this month of love, share a box of Healthy Beans’ Valentine Surprise Assorted Cupcakes, with each cupcake being no more than 150 calories. This set is composed of the shop’s best-selling flavors, namely Cookies and Cream Fudgy, Vegan Snickers, Strawberry Chocolate, Zucchini Banana, Mocha Lava Choco Fudge, and Cranberry Walnut Carrot. Of these cupcakes, the best flavor to upsize into a full cake is the Strawberry Chocolate Cake, which is notably 100% plant-based, soy-free, and gluten-free with sugar-free frosting.
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Power Stash
Similarly, Power Stash’s Valentine’s Day Special draws on the shop’s best-selling products to make this love month as sweet and healthy as possible. You have three choices for February: Valentine’s Cookies, Berry Red Velvet Cake, and Strawberry Shortcake. Notably, the Valentine’s Cookies are Power Stash’s revamped Triple Dark Chocolate Cookies, but drizzled with vegan white chocolate and topped with heart candy. Meanwhile, the Berry Red Velvet Cake is gluten-free and contains vegan chantilly cream, strawberry compote, and fresh blueberries.
