Valentine's Treats

First of all, I apologize for the lack of blogging this week. It's been a busy one. However, last night I had a busy night in the kitchen making Crab Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, Shrimp Creole & a special Valentine's Treat for The Hubs.

Eventually I'll get around to sharing all of those recipes, but since Valentine's Day is just 2 days away, I figured I better blog about that first.

I'll admit I don't really buy into the whole "Valentine's Day is a special day of love" thing. I don't expect The Hubs to get me anything special. Typically we exchange cards & have a nice dinner at home. But what I do LOVE about Valentine's Day is all of the yummy & creative treats I see in magazines & online. I thought I would share a few of my favorites.


Panera Bread Iced Valentine's Cookies




I realize these may not look that special, but if you went to Jefferson Elementary school (or perhaps any elementary school in Temple), one bite of these cookies will take you back in time to the cafeteria lunch line. Before I even entered Kindergarten at Jefferson, I was familiar with the "pink frosted cookies" available in the lunch line. They were OH SO YUMMY (and only 10 cents - my how things change). These Panera Bread cookies aren't exactly the same, but they are pretty close. And they'll have to make do since I don't think schools even sell cookies in the lunch line anymore. (Soap Box: Video games are leading to childhood obesity, not lunch line cookies).

Heart Cake



I saw this seriously amazing heart cake on another blog. Impressive! If I ever have 3 free days to work on it, perhaps I'll give it a go myself.

Homemade Fortune Cookies



These cute fortune cookies were featured on another blog, as well. You can fill them with hand written messages for that special someone or your friends.


Heart Topped Brownie Cupcakes



Martha Stewart made these festive cupcakes. You can find the recipe here; however, you can always cheat & use boxed mixes instead. Your cupcakes will still look really cute.

Heart Shaped Pancakes



This year, The Hubs & I will be starting off our Valentine's Day with heart shaped pancakes for breakfast. They are very simple to make. All you need is some pancake batter & molds like these:



You can get them several places, including Amazon or World Market (this is where I purchased mine for around $3). My only tip is to spray the molds with Pam between each pancake.

Hopefully I'll get around to posting more about the Valentine's treat I'm making for The Hubs later on today. It involves this...