Spice up your Valentine’s dessert by topping it with a hot surprise—a chili pepper! Long considered an aphrodisiac due to how it can accelerate the pulse, chili with chocolate is the perfect unexpected pair to serve on your romantic night. Plus, this chili flavor is super easy to incorporate into any type of dessert. Find out how after the jump!

Our secret to adding the perfect amount of spice to any dish is with a chili-infused simple syrup, and then adding in chopped chili for an extra bit of color and flavor. Since the spice is all in the syrup, you can gauge just how spicy you want your sweet to be. We drizzled the chili syrup on chocolate ice cream, but you can go ahead and try it on any chocolate-y treat!

What You’ll Need:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 quartered hot chilis
1 chopped chili (optional)

What To Do:
Put all of the ingredients in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil the mixture and stir frequently until the sugar has completely dissolved. Sprinkle in your chopped chili. Allow the mixture to cool and then remove your quartered chilis. Store any leftovers in an airtight jar and refrigerate. Top your favorite dessert and let the sparks fly!