Happy Belated Valentine's Day!!

This year, the boys didn't take the traditional Valentines to school.  They had to bear the brunt of my relationship with Pinterest.  :)  I didn't borrow ideas from Pinterest...the ideas just motivated me to try something of my own.

I was in the pantry one day and noticed the box of hundreds of popcorn bags I've had forever.  I don't even remember why I bought them in the first place, but I use them every now and then for little projects.  We've been going through a stage looking for our favorite buttery popcorn, so we have several bags of microwave popcorn not being eaten.  I also had an unopened large bag of M&M's.  Light bulb!  I did purchase some clear plastic treat bags and Valentine heart tags with silver twist ties for the M&M's to complete this Valentine "project".

I slipped a bag of microwave popcorn in each popcorn bag, separated the M&M's into the plastic bags, wrote on the tags, twist tied them around the plastic bags, placed the M&M's in the popcorn bag, folded the top, printed some labels that say, Just "popped" in to say, "Hope you have a great Valentine's Day!!!!" and stapled them on with colored staples.

While in the store a few days later, I saw packages of Valentine facial tissue, and thought of a really cute idea to go with them for Jonathan's Valentine's.  I packaged the tissue with some candy, printed out labels that say, "sniff, sniff...won't you be my Valentine?", and stapled them to the top.

For the boys' class party, I decided to make several sweet treats for the class (pictured below).  For the snack at the party, one of the other room moms (thank you, Kathy Pollard!) provided some delicious iced sugar cookies (from a bakery in Sachse or Wylie...I never can remember the name of it), and I brought strawberry Crush in a bottle.  The cookies and Crush were a huge hit with the kids!

Cherry pie heart tarts, Valentine chex mix, milk chocolate/white chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate chip cookie dough truffles dipped in milk chocolate and white chocolate, and milk chocolate and white chocolate dipped strawberries with sugar sprinkles and white nonpareils

Cherry Pie Heart Tarts
(This recipe makes 20)
4" heart-shaped cookie cutter
5 packages refrigerated pie crust (2 - 9" crusts in each package)
2 cans cherry pie filling
3 egg whites whisked with 3 teaspoons water
Frosting and Decorations
2-1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon softened butter
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
red food color
colored sugar

Instructions
1.  Heat the oven to 400° and cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2.  On a floured surface, roll out the piecrust to a 1/8-inch thickness. Use a large heart-shaped cookie cutter (ours measures 4 inches wide) to make pairs of hearts, gathering the scraps and rerolling the dough as necessary (I didn't do this part...I got 4 hearts from each 9" round and fed the leftover to my junkyard dog outside).

3.  For each tart, spread cherry pie filling in the middle of a heart, leaving a ½-inch margin on all sides. Brush the egg mixture around the edge before placing a second heart on top. Use the tines of a fork to seal the edges, then brush the tops with the egg mixture.

4.  Bake the hearts on the prepared cookie sheet until their edges are just beginning to brown, about 15 minutes. Let them rest on the sheet a few minutes, then move them to a rack and let them cool completely.

5.  Whisk the first four frosting ingredients in a medium bowl, adding more water a teaspoon at a time if needed to make a smooth, creamy frosting. Add a few drops of food coloring and mix until well blended. Spoon the frosting into a ziploc bag, snip off a corner, and squeeze it onto the tarts. Top them with colored sugar.

Print Cherry Pie Heart Tarts Recipe

Valentine Chex Mix
9 cups Rice Chex cereal
1 cup white vanilla baking chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup Valentine M&M's
1/4 cup red and/or pink jimmies sprinkles

1.  In large bowl, place cereal. In small microwavable bowl, microwave baking chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Pour peanut butter mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.
2.  Place 1/2 of the cereal mixture in 1-gallon food-storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes.
3.  Meanwhile, stir candies and sprinkles into remaining cereal mixture. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool, about 15 minutes.
4.  In serving bowl, mix both cereal mixtures. Store in airtight container.

Print Valentine Chex Mix Recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Melting/dipping chocolate (NOT candy melts)

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy, beat in vanilla. Gradually add the flour; mix well (if you don't add enough flour, the truffles will not hold together when dipped in chocolate; also make sure your chocolate is cool enough before dipping). Add condensed milk; mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips. Using a cookie dough scoop, drop dough onto waxed paper and place in fridge for about 1 hour.
Remove from fridge and roll into balls. Place back into fridge for about 1 hour. Melt Chocolate, dip balls, coating evenly.

Print Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles Recipe

I packaged all the goodies in clear plastic treat bags and put them in really cute Valentine treat boxes I found on sale at Hobby Lobby.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Collette :)

P.S.  The chocolate chip cookie dough truffles are so yummy!!!