Valentine's Day - The Sweet Treats

For not liking Valentine's Day very much at all, I do like to do a lil' something special... like heart pancakes, or cookies, or just a little sweet treat or handmade trinket or thoughtful 'something' for someone. So, I started out collecting my inspiration on my Valentine's Day Pinterest board, most of which ended up being baked goods, printables and easy crafts.

Brownie Bag & Pom-Poms
When I saw these kraft bag printables from Twig & Thistle, it was game on for brownie bags. I found kraft sacs instead of the cookie-type bags, so I adapted the size and layout of the original to fit my bags, and they turned out adorable! Bake brownies, instant adorable. I also made pom-poms with a tutorial from Creature Comforts - literally a 5 minute or less pom-pom, I made a gaggle of them and have no idea what to do with the left overs!

Printable Cards & Bear Hug Baggies
The best thing about having Lilly has been coloring. She's obsessed with it, so I was thrilled when I found these printable-colorable cards from Prudent Baby. They're so adorable, and I clipped them with pinking shears and had Lilly color them in over her breakfast pancakes. The Bear Hug bag idea came from FamilyFun. There's a bag full of Teddy Grahams and gummy bears, with cute tag that says "Bear Hugs for Aubrey ♥ Lilly" tied up with pink & red ribbon. They were a hit with my niece and nephew, not to mention Lilly!

Read more after the jump!





Fortune Cookies

These were so. easy. to. make. The tutorial goes like this: print, cut, adhesive, fold. Give it a try! Thanks Design Wash Rinse Repeat for the wonderful tutorial and idea! I used the provided circles, though I changed the fortunes for Lilly's mom-mom to be Lilly friendly, like "lets color!" and "let's go to the beach!" For my husband, I made ones that say "let's makeout" and such. You know. Wink. These are adorable, though I would love to get my hands on one of those double-side-tape dispensers for scrapbook folks --  I didn't know there was such a thing until I made a scrapbook page for a friends' wedding, as I'm the opposite of someone who scrapbooks. I used scotch tape in teensy pieces after my Elmer's glue got annoying and wet. These little cookies were adorable, and I'd like to make some with double sided paper, or put the effort in (read: not notice that part of the tutorial description where she said she printed red on one side and the print on the other side. Oops.) and print two sided graphics/colors.




Breakfast

Lilly and I made some cinnamon rolls from scratch, and rolled them into heart shapes!  They were so tasty and the recipe didn't use any yeast, so there was no waiting around.  I adapted an original recipe, and made it Weight Watchers friendly(ish), here's the recipe:











Weight Watchers Friendly Cinnamon Roll Hearts (makes 12 rolls, each roll is 5 points)

For the dough:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out dough
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
4 Tbsp low fat margarine - melted (this will be divided through the recipe)

For the filling:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp melted margarine (from the original 4 above)
3 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

For the icing:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 cup skim milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Over low heat, melt the margarine. Whisk the buttermilk and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter in small bowl. Add the wet to the dry, mix with a wooden spoon until combined. The dough will be ridiculously sticky and loose. In another bowl, combine the filling ingredients together. Turn dough out onto floured surface and roll out to a large rectangle, about 13x9. Brush remaining margarine over the dough, and sprinkle with the filling, leaving a 1/2" gap around the edges. To get 12 heart rolls, I rolled one long side into the center, then started to roll the other side into the center, then cut with a sharp wet knife. Spray a baking sheet or casserole dish with some cooking spray, and arrange your hearts onto the sheets, so the cut sides are facing up and down. You can fix your hearts at this point to look more like, well, a heart. Bake these at 375 for 10 minutes, then check on 'em. Mine took a total of about 13-15 minutes, but depending on your oven, that could vary.

While they're cooling down, you can make your icing - this is more of a light glaze than a frosting. In a saucepan over low heat, heat your milk, vanilla and sugar whisking until combined and warm. You should be able to stick a finger in there without getting burned. If it's too hot, let it sit off the heat for a bit. Arrange your rolls onto a plate, dish or container to keep them in, and drizzle your icing over the top. The glaze will harden, and will just be the right amount of sweet. I freeze mine, or you can keep them in an airtight container for up to a week, or in the fridge. (Also, I wanted to mention, if you don't want hearts, just roll em up like usual.)








Enjoy!!