Happy Valentines Day - A Special Treat

I have to say I am pleased with myself.  For once, I actually put a plan together and carried it out.  Okay, bear with me while I act all smug for awhile.  It doesn't occur often. ;)~

Since this was E's first big fun event at school, I thought I'd help her get things off to a good start with her new friends by making Valentine treats.  It has been hitting me lately that I've been a little reluctant to give up control and allow E to help.  I may just be a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to pouring, mixing, measuring etc.  So I thought this project would be perfect for a little mother daughter bonding time with my oldest.

We made chocolate covered marshmallows and chocolate hearts.  Just do a search and you will find any number of blogs ready, willing and able to show you how it's done.

Basically you melt 12 ozs of chocolate, stick a craft or candy stick into a marshmallow, dip it into the chocolate and roll or cover with sprinkles.

My adjustments... I couldn't find on short notice candy sticks but I did find cocktail straws at the dollar store.  I got like a 100 for $1.00.  Sure they were a little on the weak side if you over coated the marshmallows, bent real easy like but they still worked and stood up just fine.

I also couldn't find any of that clear plastic covering so I used valentine candy bags instead and taped it around the middle.   You could still see what's inside.  Then we just wrapped the Valentine's cards around each little parcel.

I melted about 4 oz of chocolate first and let E spoon it into the chocolate heart mold.  While she was doing that I prepped the marshmallows and melted about 8 ozs of chocolate.  I melted it in a glass measuring cup because I figured it would be easier to immerse the entire marshmallow to coat it.  I was right. Also a drop or two of honey or corn syrup helps make the chocolate shiny.

Then I used small plates and poured red sugar and colored sprinkles in each one.  Basically I would dip the marshmallows (Hey I had to have fun too!)  and hand it to E to roll or dip in the sprinkles etc.

I found that if there was too much chocolate on the marshmallow and then we tried to roll it, the sprinkles would just be absorbed into the chocolate.  Lighter coating and small pat pats of the marshmallow into the dip worked better.  I also think next time I'd use a coarser sugar because the stuff you buy in the bakery aisle bsorbed real quick into the chocolate.

At first I tended to hover about the right way to do it but I backed off quickly because really what did it matter. This was for E and her friends after all.  With all that sugar and chocolate there was just no way we could mess it up.

 E loved doing it and was so proud of what she made.  She had a hard time going to sleep that night because she couldn't wait to deliver them to all her classmates.




Dig the cheesy smile on my girls




It was just too much fun and made me realize how big she is getting and how I should be trusting her to help more.  Babies.. they just grow up so fast.



















I am a bit of chocolate snob though and next time I think I will go for a higher quality chocolate.  I used Baker's chocolate. A mix of sweet and semi-sweet because I didn't have enough of one or the other and I'm definitely not a unsweetened or dark chocolate kinda gal.  Give me milky smooth and creamy every time!


Did you make any special treats for Valentine's Day?