Chocolate Love Me Hearts - Valentine's Day Recipe

Supplies You Need:

8 (1 oz) squares milk chocolate

How to Make Them:

Place the chocolate squares in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute remove the bowl and stir. Continue at 30 second intervals until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth being sure to stir after each 30 seconds.

Allow the mixture to cool about 5 minutes.

Lay wax paper on a flat surface and spread the chocolate mixture on the wax paper to desired thickness.

Place the chocolate on the wax paper in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or until the chocolate is firm but still pliable. Remove and place on the flat surface.

Use heart shaped cookie cutters of different sizes to cut out the solid chocolate hearts.

Serving Size: 24 to 32 hearts

Use these chocolate hearts for Valentine's Day, in Easter baskets, at place settings or just hand them out throughout the day. You can add a little flavoring such as orange, lemon or raspberry to the melted chocolate for a special treat.

Valentine’s Day Dinner for Kids

With all the special events taking place on Valentine’s Day it is only right to end the day with a dinner befitting the occasion. Kids can give you some ideas for what they want to have for dinner. If you trust their tastes, let them choose the meal. Here are some kid friendly Valentine’s Day dinner ideas.

1. Make your own pizza. The kids can choose the toppings and fix them up into little bowls so that they are easier to put on the pizza. Parents can shape the dough into a heart when it is ready for toppings. To get the entire family involved, each person can create a personal pizza for themselves with their favorite toppings. Add a salad and you have a perfect Valentine’s Day meal.

2. Heart Shaped Meatloaf. Anything that you can shape can become a Valentine’s Day meal centerpiece. Instead of a loaf pan, put that meatloaf into a heart shaped pan. Let the kids use ketchup to write a loving message on the meatloaf before you bake it.

3. Casseroles for dinner are typical but on Valentine’s Day, we can take some time to give it a unique touch. Parents can use kitchen shears to cut raw chicken breasts into heart like shapes for the casserole. Veggie casseroles are easier to shape and kids can do it with a butter knife.

4. For Valentine’s Day, the drinks are on the kids. Red Kool-Aid is a great choice. Let the kids mix it up. You can also make a Valentine’s Day punch. You can find many punch recipes online and in cookbooks at your local library. If your kids are really creative, they can use heart-shaped ice molds to fashion festive ice cubes to keep their drinks cool and refreshing.

This special dinner takes planning. You and your kids can grocery shop together the week before to find all the necessary ingredients and utensils to make Valentine’s Day a success. You may have to visit a few stores to find the ice molds or non-stick pans for the meals. While you’re at it, you may find some other things that could make your meal more festive on Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day takes on new meaning when you have kids. They see each event with new eyes and Valentine’s Day is no different. Take the opportunity to get them interested in cooking and begin new family traditions that they look forward to participating in together each year.

Show Kids How Much You Love Them in Every Valentine’s Day Meal

Give the kids a sense of love all day long on Valentine’s Day. The love isn’t just represented in a special dinner or after dinner treats, but you can remind them of your love at other mealtimes throughout the day too. Here are some ideas to spruce up your every day snacks for Valentine’s Day.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. On Valentine’s Day, it is extra special. Give the kids silver dollar pancakes in the shape of a heart. They’ll wonder how you did it and think you are the greatest mom in the world. It’s nice to be loved.


It’s not only the food that can change shape. Serve drinks for the kids in red and pink cups. Each meal tastes that much better on a plate that says I love you. 

All of your food can go all mushy with love on Valentine’s Day. Give sandwiches a makeover using cookie cutters in the shape of hearts. Kids love eating little pieces of food because they can pick it up with their fingers. Bite size pieces are easier to chew too.

If your kids like fruit, slice your fruit into thick slices and then cut them into different shapes using cookie cutters. Add a bowl of these lovely fruit pieces to their sandwich for lunch. If the kids are school age these ideas still work for a bag lunch on Valentine’s Day.

Do your kids like soup? February is still the middle of winter and in some places it is still cold. Instead of serving that soup for lunch in a regular bowl, try a bread bowl. Hollow the bread out in the shape of a heart. The kids will be stunned and amazed once again by your cooking creativity. Chicken noodle or vegetable soup seems to taste better when it’s presented in a new way.

Macaroni and cheese can go all hugs and kisses with a little help from some add-ins. Add color and protein to the favorite pasta dish with some ham bits shaped like miniature hearts. Pieces of sweet peppers and other veggies like carrots can add some love to that bowl too. Who knew that all you had to do was change the shape of the vegetables to get kids to eat them?

Valentine’s Day is about extra special love all day long. Add that love to your food and give your kids a treat.

Valentine's Day "Sandwiches Made from the Heart"

Ingredients:

* Cream cheese, softened
* Red food coloring
* Bread
* Heart-shaped cookie cutter
* Jam; strawberry or raspberry

Directions:

Add a few drops of red food coloring to the softened cream cheese and mix until the color is a light pink throughout. Cut bread into heart shapes with the cookie cutter. Spread cream cheese on the bread and top with the jam.

Valentine's Day Raspberry Brownies

Ingredients:

* 4 cups fresh red raspberries
* 5 tablespoons sugar
* 2 teaspoons finely shredded orange peel
* 2 cups whipping cream
* 1/4 cup raspberry liqueur (Chambord) (optional)
* 4 squares (3-inch) bakery brownies: milk chocolate, blond, or marbled brownies cut into chunks

Directions:

Set aside 8 to 10 of the berries.

In a bowl combine remaining berries, the sugar, and orange peel, place the berry mixture in a 1- to 1 1/2 quart compote dish or serving bowl.

In a chilled mixing bowl combine whipping cream and liqueur (if using). Beat with chilled beaters of an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Spoon on top of raspberry mixture. Top the whipped cream with brownie chunks and reserved raspberries.

Valentine's Day "Pasta For Me and You"

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound linguini - cooked
* 6 Roma Tomatoes - Cut into large dice
* 6 cloves garlic
* 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil
* 1/3 cup fresh basil
* 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (or to taste)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* Few turns of fresh ground pepper

Directions

Heat oil in a medium-high skillet, add pepper flakes, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 minute (don't brown the garlic). Add the tomatoes and cook till tomatoes start to wilt. Add Basil and cook for 1 more minute. Add cooked pasta to skillet and toss.

We have an abundance of cherry tomatoes in the summer so we sometimes substitute the roma tomatoes with cherry tomatoes that have been roasted for an hour or 2 in a 250 F oven (like sun dried tomatoes).

Chocolate "Stuffed with Love" Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Ingredients:

CupCakes

* 3 cups all purpose flour
* 2 cups sugar
* 2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups water
* 2/3 cup vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons vinegar
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling:

* 1 package ( 8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup Hershey's Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips or Mini Chips
* Red food coloring

Directions:

Prepare filling; set aside. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla; beat on medium speed 2 minutes or until well combined. Fill paper-lined muffin cups ( 2 1/2 inches in diameter) 2/3 full with batter. Spoon 1 level Tbsp filling into center of each cupcake. Bake 20-25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake portion comes out clean. Cool. About 2 1/2 dozen cupcakes.

Filling Directions:

In small mixer bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, egg and salt; beat until smooth and creamy. Add 4-5 drops red food color to acheive your desired color. Stir in chocolate chips.

Valentine's Day Cookie and Cupcake Ideas

Valentine’s Day is a day for treats as well as expressions of love. Kids like to get more of the sweets and this is one day they can enjoy delicious creations. Here are some ideas for making cookies and cupcakes that ooze with love and fresh baked goodness.

Let’s start with the cookies. For kids, baking is fun. It is a way for them to help out in the kitchen and learn love cooking. The freezer section of the grocery store has several flavors of cookies. Rolled dough is good to use and eliminates cleanup hassles after the cookies are made.

Take a roll of refrigerated dough and roll it out on a non-stick surface. Add a touch of flour to the rolling pin before you try to roll the dough or it will stick. Younger kids may find it easier to roll the dough out with a plastic rolling pin because they are not as heavy as the wooden ones.

Heart shaped cookie cutters will turn regular sugar, peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies into creations of love. Kids don’t only like hearts. Let them experiment with other shapes in the cookie cutter arsenal if they want to. They can even design shapes of their own with the dough pieces that are too small to cut.

Cupcakes are much the same way but it takes a bit more preparation. To make it easy, use a box cake mix instead of mixing everything from scratch. Remind your kids that if you are adding egg that they can’t dip a finger in because of the possibility of salmonella poisoning.

The kids can choose to use cupcake cups that are decorated for the holiday or spoon them directly into the muffin pan. Mini muffin pans create bite size cupcakes for the family to enjoy after dinner. If you have a window in the oven, kids will camp out and watch the cupcakes bake just like a television show.

Decorate those cupcakes with creamy icing. White icing can be turned into pink with a bit of red food coloring. Kids will be amazed by this as the white icing changes colors. For an extra special touch, add candy sprinkles or cinnamon red hot candies. It will be hard to keep the kids from eating up all the ingredients as they bake. It may be hard to keep you from sneaking that spoonful of icing when you should be adding it to the cupcakes too so be warned.

Sweets are fun to make and even more fun to eat. Cookies and cupcakes get a nice makeover on Valentine’s Day to help reflect the good feelings of the holiday as well as create great family togetherness.

"Cherrylisous Cream Cheese" Valentine's Day Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies

* 1 cup powdered sugar
* 1 cup oleo
* 1 egg
* 2 teaspoons vanilla
* 2 cups flour

Filling

* 1 cup powdered sugar
* 2 teaspoons flour
* 3 ounces cream cheese
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 cup coconut
* 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries -- drained

Glaze

* 1/4 cup chocolate chips
* 1 teaspoon oleo
* 1/4 cup powdered sugar
* 3 teaspoons water

Directions:

Mix sugar and oleo. Add egg and vanilla. Stir in flour. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours.

Shape dough into balls. Place 2" apart on cookie sheet. With thumb, make imprint in each cookie. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Remove from cookie sheet and cool.

Mix filling and fill cookie center with 1/2 teaspoon of filling.

In saucepan, melt chocolate chips and oleo. Mix in rest of ingredients and drizzle over cookies.

Valentine's Day "Party Games" For Kids

Games are essential if you are planning a Valentine's Day party for kids. Here are 7 great Valentine's Day games appropriate for kids that are easy and fun to play.
 
Valentine Heart Pillow Race:

Use two large stuffed hearts (either pillows or just plush stuffed hearts). Divide the kids into two teams and tell them they must run to the finish line with the heart between their legs. Once they return to the group, they should take the heart and give it to the next child, who puts it between their legs and so on. Whichever group finishes the entire relay first wins. 

Valentine "Toilet Paper" Gift Wrap:

Give the kids a couple rolls of toilet paper and instruct them to wrap another child mummy style. This is a popular game at Halloween, but in this case they are wrapping a present. Divide the kids into two teams and time them. The team that finishes first, wins, and gets to put a big red bow on their "package".

Valentine "Name Match" Game:

Help kids remember some of the great couples of history by having them complete the match to a famous other half. For example, if you say "Romeo" their answer would be "Juliet". To play this game, divide the kids into two groups and give each a bell or similar type item. Present the famous start of the pair. You might say, "peanut butter" and if one of the teams knows the match is "jelly" they will ring in with their answer. 

Some other options are:

"Eggs and (bacon)"
"Coffee and (sugar or cream is OK here)"
"Cinderella and (Prince Charming)"
"Cookies and (milk)"
"Jack and (Jill)"

Valentine "Heart Candy" Game:

Kids love those little Valentine's candy conversation hearts available everywhere around Valentine's Day. Create a heart-stacking contest, which is a lot of fun and can create some team spirit. Initially, each child will get many hearts. Plan to have a few bags on hand if you are doing this game with a lot of kids. Have them build as high as they can with the hearts within in a given period of time (30 seconds to a minute is plenty). If their contraption falls, they are out. Keep playing the game over and over again until you are down to two final contestants. Have everyone cheer him or her on as they try to build the highest (and longest lasting) tower of hearts. Be sure to have a prize for the winner.

Valentine Balloon Game:

Give each child a balloon (not inflated) and have him or her blow it up, but do not tie it off. Have a target somewhere in the room, and in this case a big heart will do, and have them let go of their (untied) balloon in the direction of the target. Whoever gets their balloon the closest to the target gets a prize. If someone gets a direct hit, that's two prizes. Keep the target on the ground to make this game easier. Based on the ages and abilities of the kids, you can have them stand close or somewhat far away from the target when they let their balloon go.

Valentine's Day Bingo:

For a seated game that might help the kids rest for a minute, play a game of Valentine's Day-themed bingo. The bingo squares might have pictures on them like hearts, flowers, cupid, arrows and the like. Be sure to have a prize for the winner, and play the game over and over so the kids can all have a turn at winning. 

Valentine's Day "Throw The Smile" Game:

Sit everyone in a circle and have one person smile wildly at the rest of the group. Everyone else must sit as stone-faced as possible. Then the person smiling dramatically wipes the smile off their face (by literally using their hand over their mouth in a swiping motion) and "throws" the smile to the next person in the circle. That person puts the smile on, and again makes a wild, silly smile at the group, then wipes it off and moves on. As soon as someone smirks or smiles that is not supposed to be smiling at that moment, they are out. It's harder than it sounds and kids often end up in gales of laughter, even when they're trying to be serious.

"Girly Girl" Valentine's Day Cookies

Ingredients:

* 1/4 cup soft Crisco vegetable shortening or 1/4 cup butter
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
* 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 tablespoons milk
* 1 cup Quick or Old Fashioned Oats, Uncooked
* Few Drops red food coloring
* Chocolate Frosting (or Jam of choice)

Directions:

Beat together shortening, butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and peppermint extract; beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture alternately with milk. Stir in oats. Add just enough red food coloring to make a pink dough. Cover and chill dough 1 hour. Roll out dough on a lightly floured board to 1/8". Cut with 2" floured, heart shaped cookie cutter. Place on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake 375 degrees for 6 minutes. Remove and cool on rack.

Frost 1/2 of the cookies with chocolate frosting of choice or jam of choice. Top with remaining cookies, sandwich style.

"My Heart Filled" Valentine's Day Cookies

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
* 1/2 cup shortening
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and shortening; gradually add sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla extract. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Meanwhile, make Cherry Filling (see recipe below).

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness; cut with a 2 1/2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter dipped in flour. Place half of the cookies on greased baking sheets; spoon 1/2 teaspoon Cherry filling in the center of each. Use a 1 1/2-inch heart-shaped cutter to cut small hearts out of the other half of the heart shaped cookies you cut out. (Bake small heart cutouts separately.) Place the remaining hearts over filled cookies; press edges together gently. Fill centers with additional filling if needed. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees F for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

Cherry Filling

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 4 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
* 1/2 cup orange juice
* 1/4 cup red maraschino cherry juice
* 12 red maraschino cherries, chopped
* 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
* Additional sugar

Directions:

Combine sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Add juices, cherries and butter. Bring to a boil; boil and stir for 1 minutes. Chill.

Yields about 4 1/2 dozen filled cookies.

"You Melt My Heart" Valentine's Day Cookies

Ingredients:

* 1/3 cup powdered sugar
* 3/4 cup cornstarch
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup butter (no substitutes)

Directions:

Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in the butter until fine. Gently work into a soft dough. Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface to approximately 1/4-inch thick. Cut using a 2- or 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter. Place hearts onto an ungreased baking sheet.


Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. Let cookies rest on baking sheet until cooled slightly before removing to cooling rack. Frost centers of cookies with cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

* 3 ounces cream cheese, softened
* 1 tablespoon margarine, softened
* 1 tablespoon milk
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
* 1/2 pound powdered sugar pink food coloring

Directions:

Mix together cream cheese, margarine, milk and vanilla. Gradually mix in powdered sugar. Add more milk if needed to make a creamy spreading consistency. Stir in pink food coloring until a pale pink icing is created. Frost centers of melt-away cookies.

Valentine's Day Pinky Popcorn Lollipops

Ingredients:

* 7 cups popped corn
* 3 cups miniature marshmallows
* 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* few drops red food color
* 8 lollipops

Directions:

Measure popped corn into large buttered bowl.


In top of double boiler over hot water, heat marshmallows, butter and salt, stirring frequently, until marshmallows melt and mixture is smooth. Stir in food color. Pour mixture over corn in bowl. Toss gently to coat.


With buttered hands quickly shape mixture around lollipops into 3 inch balls.

"Be My Valentine" Pizza

Ingredients:

* 1 (10 oz.) can refrigerated pizza crust
* 4 teaspoons butter, divided
* 1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
* 1 leek, cut into 1-inch strips
* 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half, cut into small cubes
* 1/4 cup pesto
* artichoke hearts, coarsely chopped, to taste
* 4 ounces Fontina cheese, shredded
* 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Unroll refrigerated pizza dough into rectangle or square shape. Create a heart shape template out of paper towels or cardboard. Place template on dough and cut around heart shape using scissors. Place heart-shaped dough on greased cookie sheet and follow instructions on dough can for prebaking pizza crust. Set crust aside.

Saute red pepper and leeks in half of the butter until almost tender. Remove from skillet. Add chicken and other half of the butter to skillet and cook until chicken is done and lightly browned.

Spread pesto over prebaked pizza crust. Top with sautéed leeks, red peppers, and chicken. Add artichoke hearts. Top with cheeses and bake at 425°F. for 7 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with oregano.

Sugar "My Heart" Cookies

Ingredients:

* 1 cup shortening
* 2 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3 drops red food coloring

Directions:

Mix ingredients in the order given. Divide dough and add enough red food coloring for desired shades of pink or red. Refrigerate dough for 40 to 60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll and cut out with heart cutters. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 11 minutes. Do not overbake.