Enjoy this fun guest post from Maria!
Valentine’s Day isn’t just for lovers—it’s for the whole family. Spend an afternoon with your kids this February 14th with these two simple crafts. Make a few extra to spread the love around to friends and family.
Lollipop Bouquet
This sweet craft costs considerably less than a store-bought set of flowers and is easy enough for kids to give to Mom or Dad as they please.
Materials Needed
Colored paper in green and pink, red, or other flower-like colors
Flat (not ball) lollipops
Scissors and glue stick
Directions
Fold the colored paper in half. Keeping part of the shape along the folded edge (so that the heart is a folded card), cut out heart shapes just bigger than the lollipop candy. Write a short message in the heart (“Be mine,” for example) and then glue it to the lollipop wrapper. For the leaves, fold the green paper in half. Cut out leaf shapes, keeping the stem part of the shape on the folded edge. Unfold the leaves and coat them with the glue stick. Fold it back over the lollipop stem.
Candy Cane Leftovers Chocolate Cookies
Image Credit
Still have candy canes lying around since Christmas? Recycle them in this simple chocolate cookie recipe. Bringing kids into the kitchen (with supervision, of course) is always good practice.
Ingredients
2 ½ cups bittersweet chocolate chips (but don’t go over 61% cacao or it will be more bitter than sweet!)
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup natural unsweetened fair trade cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 stick (or ½ cup) unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 eggs
4 candy canes, coarsely crushed (an easy and safe way to do this is to take them out of their original wrappers and freeze them in a paper bag. Once frozen, take it out of the freezer, cover with a thick dish towel, and give them a good whack with a hammer or rolling pin.)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Stir 2 cups of chocolate chips in a metal bowl over a saucepan of simmering water so they melt. Measure out 2/3 cup and put into a separate bowl. Take them off the heat. You’re going to use the 2/3 measurement to drizzle over the cookies later.
Meanwhile, whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Beat butter in another bowl until creamy with an electric mixer. Add sugar and vanilla and peppermint extracts. Add eggs and beat. Add what’s left in the original chocolate bowl to the mixture and beat. Finally, add the dry ingredients and beat just to blend. Stir in the remaining ½ cup chocolate chips.
Take the dough 1 level tablespoon at a time and roll between palms into a ball before placing on the baking sheet. Space the cookies about 1 ½ inches apart. Bake for about 8 minutes or until cracked all over and a tester comes out with moist crumbs. Cool the cookies for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack (still on the parchment paper).
Remember that 2/3 cup of melted chocolate? Warm them over simmering water again and, once melted, drizzle over the cookies using a fork. Sprinkle the crushed candy canes. Make sure that some of the red show on the cookie to give it a Valentine’s Day feel. Chill the cookies for about 20 minutes so the chocolate sets. Then, enjoy!
Jenae {I Can Teach My Child} says
Check out this recipe for Stained Glass Valentine Cookies. Definitely not healthy, but a fun and pretty treat for a special occasion!
http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2011/02/stained-glass-valentine-cookies.html
Liz@WashingtonPharmGirl says
great ideas. i just made cookies with my niece today. we had a great time.
Heather says
We have been doing our Valentine’s dinner with our children for years. They look so forward to it that I couldn’t change the tradition – ever. And because our anniversary is 2 weeks before Valentine’s Day, it seems a bit overkill. What great ideas!
Tami says
about the cake in a jar, I went to their web sight, and it doesn’t really tell a whole lot, what size are the jars? pint? 1/2 pint?
Thanks, Tami