Here’s another last minute valentine treat for you. We posted this recipe at Halloween. But peanut butter hearts are just as yummy in February.

Ingredients:
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup softened butter (My mom says the butter must be softened–not melted and not hard–so your dough turns out right. She said, “No one wants lumps of butter in their dough.”)
1 lb powdered sugar–you might not use all of this
chocolate for melting–you can use chocolate chips, Hershey bars, or whatever you’d like
white candy melts
white nonpareils
coarse salt, such as kosher or sea salt

Directions:
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the butter & peanut butter until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar until it forms a soft dough. Adding too much powdered sugar will cause the dough to crumble, adding not enough will cause the dough to be too soft to dip in the chocolate. You should end up with a stiff, but moldable dough. On your counter top, roll out the peanut butter dough with a rolling pin to a 1/2 inch thickness. Use powdered sugar on the counter and rolling pin if needed to keep the dough from sticking. We used mini cookie cutters in heart shapes for our treats. According to my mom, it’s best if you can let the cut out shapes sit out overnight to let them dry out a little bit. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler on the stove top or in a glass dish in the microwave. Dip the shapes into the white or regular chocolate with a fork and place onto wax paper or parchment to cool. Sprinkle nonpareils or a pinch of coarse salt onto the uncooled chocolate hearts. Place your finished treats into the refrigerator to help them set. Use a thin metal spatula to remove them from the parchment and to avoid getting finger prints on your valentine treats.

Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat.

We’re featuring an adorable Valentine Breakfast Party this week. Start off your party with some fun table games that could easily be played while waiting for breakfast to be ready (or at any free moment you have during the morning).

The first game you can play is bingo. Kids love a fun game of bingo – especially with cute bingo cards. For an extra special treat, use heart shaped candy as the bingo markers. This bingo game includes 4 different cards (all numbered 1-24) plus a blank card that you can print and fill in your own numbers (printables available at the end of the week).

Another great activity for the Valentine’s breakfast table is to have guests write valentine notes to each other. These adorable mailboxes are from the dollar section at Target. You can give each child the mini post cards to write or draw notes to their siblings and friends. Then let the kids walk around the table and deliver their letters into each mini mail box.

We have the super sweet Sara Schmutz here from Confetti Sunshine hosting the Valentine’s Breakfast Party all week long. Come back each day for more Valentine’s inspiration. The printables for this party will be available at the end of the week. 

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day–especially for this party. To make the food preparations easier, most of the prep and cooking don’t take a lot of time, which means more fun with your kids. Sara has gone to some of her favorite food blogs and picked out delicious recipes for this valentine breakfast menu.

Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate, Pancakes (sans blueberries and topped with whipped cream and strawberries), Red Heart Paper Straws, Lollipop Sticks, and don’t forget, the party printables will be available tomorrow.

Baked Eggs & Blueberry Muffins

Muffin Topper

You will need: Red Glitter, Pink Dot Mini Cupcake Liners, Red Pin Stripe Mini Cupcake Liners, Lollipop Sticks, 2″ circle punch, ”heart” printable tag, white school glue/tacky glue

Directions: Flatten 1 of each mini cupcake liners and use the 2″ circle punch to cut out one of the heart tags. Roll the edges of the heart tag in the glue. While the glue is still wet, roll the edges of the heart tag in the glitter. Allow to dry. Stack the red pin stripe mini cupcake liner on top of the pink polka dot. Glue in place. Then glue your glittered heart tag on top. Finish by gluing the decoration on a lollipop stick.

We have the super sweet Sara Schmutz here from Confetti Sunshine hosting the Valentine’s Breakfast Party all week long. Come back each day for more Valentine’s inspiration. The printables for this party will be available at the end of the week.

Day 1: Printables

We’re kicking things off with a Glittery Pink and Gold Valentines Party today. And what better way to start this week than with these darling free printable notecards and stickers. Valentine’s Day is the perfect time to send a handwritten note, and whether your preference is for traditional hearts or modern arrows, you can offer up one to all the loves in your life.

Print notecards on heavy cardstock in ivory or cream. Each card is 3×5 when cut. Circles can be printed 8.5×11 whole sheet sticker labels (or on cardstock to make favor tags) and punched with a 2” circle punch.

This week we’re featuring a beautiful Valentines Day collaboration between Becca of CAKE. + Michele of Cakewalk Baking…. each of these glittery projects was designed, baked and styled by these two amazing ladies. Check out additional projects for this party all week on CAKE. Photography by Sherry Heck.

Day 3: Truffle Pops
A twist on traditional cake pops, this dark chocolate valentine truffles recipe is rich + delicious. And of course these truffle pops are dusted with just a touch of gold edible glitter… because everything’s better with a little sparkle.

Truffle Pops

You Will Need:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
½ cup whipping cream
Candy Melts in your color of choice
Oil food coloring (if desired)
Disco dust (if desired)

Directions: Place the chocolate in a heat proof mixing bowl. Bring the cream just to a boil in a small sauce pan. Immediately pour the cream on the chocolate and let it stand for a few minutes. Stir the chocolate with a spatula until smooth. Leave the chocolate at room temperature, stirring occasionally until firm. This can take several hours. Once the chocolate is firm, roll balls into desired size. Insert lollipop stick and refrigerate until hard, preferably overnight. Melt the candy melts in a heat proof bowl over a double boiler. If desired, add a few drops of oil based food coloring. Holding your pops by the lollipop stick, dip them into the candy melts and swirl to coat completely. Remove from the chocolate and tap gently to remove excess. Insert sticks into a styrofoam block to dry. When dry, sprinkle with disco dust.

This week we’re featuring a beautiful Valentines Day collaboration between Becca of CAKE. + Michele of Cakewalk Baking…. each of these glittery projects was designed, baked and styled by these two amazing ladies. Check out additional projects for this party all week on CAKE. Photography by Sherry Heck.