Recipe: Pretty Princess Heart Cookies
Fit for any princess (or prince!), these adorable princess cookies are perfect for Valentine’s Day or princess-themed party.
Ingredients:
- Batch of sugar cookie dough, homemade or store-bought (Note: For store-bought dough, you may need to add flour to stiffen it so the cookies will hold their shape while baking.)
- Rolling pin, spatula, and cooling rack
- Heart-shaped cookie cutter (a 2 1/4-inch-wide cutter works best)
- Pink colored sugar
- White or pink cookie icing
- Butter knife
- A few pieces of pink taffy or pink StarBurst candies
- Waxed paper
- Kitchen scissors or knife
Directions:
- Roll out the cookie dough and cut out an even number of heart-shaped cookies. Sprinkle half of the cookies with colored sugar. Bake the cookies according to the recipe or package directions.
- Transfer the baked cookies to the rack to cool.
- Turn one of the plain cookies upside down so that the flat bottom faces up. Spread on cookie icing and then set one of the sugar-topped cookies down on top of it. Repeat this step until you’ve assembled all of the sandwich cookies.
- Now it’s time to crown off the cookies with Tiana’s special valentine emblem. Use the rolling pin to roll the taffy or Star Burst candies between waxed paper until it is very thin. (If the candy is too hard to roll, you can soften it in the microwave for 4 to 5 seconds.) Then use kitchen scissors or a knife to cut out a small candy crown for each cookie (a parent’s job).
- Top each cookie with a candy crown, using a small dab of cookie icing to hold it in place.
Healthy & Delicious Homemade Twix Bars
I don’t know about you, but eating healthy gets pretty boring sometimes, and you just want to break out a candy bar. Instead of buying one at the store or at the vending machine at work, bake these super healthy ones from Chocolate Covered Katie. This recipe makes 12 bars.
Ingredients:
Chocolate Covering:
Shortbread:
- 1/2 cup white rice flour or buckwheat flour or sorghum flour
- 1/2 cup arrowroot or tapioca
- 2 tbsp evaporated cane juice or regular sugar or coconut sugar
- 3 tbsp sunflower seed butter (or other nut or seed butter)
- 2 tbsp virgin coconut oil
- 1 tbsp freshly ground flax mixed with 2 tbsp water (Let sit for 5 minutes before using)
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Caramel Filling:
- 1 tsp water
- pinch salt
- 100 g of pitted dates (approx. 6 dates)
- 3 tablespoons sunflower seed butter (or another nut butter of choice)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, then set aside.
- Prepare shortbread: Add first three ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and whisk to combine. Then add sunflower seed butter, coconut oil, flax mixture and extract. Mix with a hand mixer or stand mixer until fully combined. The dough should stick together well.
- Shape dough into twelve 3″ cookies: Scoop out about 1 1/2 tablespoons at a time into your hand and roll into a ball, then shape into a long tube by rolling back and forth between the palm of your hands until it’s about 3″ long. Set down on prepared cookie sheet and flatten with fingers. (Note: You can make the cookie even straighter by using the side of a knife to press up against the edges.)
- Place cookies in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until tops are slightly cracked and sides are golden, then allow to cool.
- Place caramel ingredients in the bowl of the food processor and blend until smooth. If the mixture doesn’t get smooth, just add a tiny bit of water and mix again.
- Once the cookies are cooled, top them with caramel: Roll caramel like you did the cookies; into 3-inch tubes, and place over top of cookies, then place them on another cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper.
- Place the caramel covered cookies in the freezer and allow to set for at least 10 minutes. This will make the cookies easier to dip in the chocolate.
- Melt chocolate chips by putting them into a metal bowl put over the top of a sauce pan filled with water. Bring water to a boil and stir chips until melted. Remove from heat once fully melted.
- Remove the cookie sheet from the freezer. Coat the bars in chocolate one by one: Drop the bar into the chocolate and coat it with your fingers. Remove the cookie with your fingers and place back on the parchment. Repeat on all cookies. Place the coated cookies back in the freezer and allow to set for 15 minutes.
That’s it! In just a few minutes, you’ll have a dozen Twix bars that you won’t regret later! Here are the nutrition facts on Katie’s site.
Conversation Hearts Valentine’s Wreath Tutorial
Create this super simple Valentine’s Day themed wreath in just an hour or so and about $10-$20!
What You’ll Need:
- Circular foam form with four flat sides
- Pink tissue paper
- Hot glue
- 4 bags of Sweethearts Conversation Hearts candy (or two 1 pound bags)
- Big pink ribbon (or other ribbon to hang the wreath on)
Directions:
- Wrap the tissue paper around the foam and hot glue it on to secure it. This covers the boring white foam.
- Start hot gluing the conversation hearts in one row and go all the way around the wreath. It is easier and neater to do one row than to go three across.
- Do this as many times as it takes to cover the wreath completely, but leave the back that will be against the wall or door without candy on it.
- Tie a ribbon around and through the circle to hang, and that’s it!
Thanks to Crafts & Such for the picture and tutorial!
Recipe: Valentine’s Day Marshmallow Pops
Change up the regular Valentine’s hearts lollipops or cake pops, and make these super simple Valentine’s Day Marshmallow Pops in just a few minutes. Would be great for a child’s school party, too!
Just stick a lollipop stick through a marshmallow, then dip it into melted chocolate (add food coloring to white chocolate for different colors). Before it hardens, dip the marshmallow with the chocolate into different sprinkles, then put it into a glass, stick down. Do this over and over again, and when you put it into a glass, be sure they don’t touch each other (like in the picture). That’s it, it’s that simple! Kids would love to decorate their own marshmallow pops. Do this for birthdays, Easter, Christmas, any holiday!
DIY Peppermint Candy Platter
Did you know you can take cheap peppermint candy (or ANY hard candy of any type) and make a platter? It’s amazing and SO EASY! Here’s what you do:
- Line a pizza pan with parchment paper.
- Open peppermint candies and arrange them in whichever pattern you’d like on the parchment paper.
- Bake at 350 for 13-17 minutes.
- Pull it off the pizza pan after 2-3 minutes & put it flat on the counter to cool (still on the parchment paper).
- Allow to cool fully and pull off the paper. VOILA! Plate made from candy.