Yummy Valentine Treats

 I made these whoopie pies for Valentine's Day treats for the hubby...he calls them "poopy pies" but he loves them! 

 My only word of advice...don't make the circles too big, because they will expand a lot and you will have hamburger size cookies! Enjoy!

Whoopie Pies      (link to full & printable recipe)                   

Ingredients

• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups milk
• Filling, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, or preheat a convection oven to 315 degrees F.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, and eggs together until well combined. Add the oil and vanilla and beat again.
In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Add half of the dry mixture to the egg mixture and beat or stir to blend. Add 1 1/2 cups milk and beat again. Add the remaining dry mixture and beat until incorporated. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk and beat until blended.
With a large spoon, scoop out 32 circles of batter onto a baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool.
Spread filling onto 16 circles and place remaining circles on top, to make 16 Whoopie Pies.

Filling:

1 1/2 cups shortening 3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 1/3 cups marshmallow topping

Dash salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 to 1/2 cup milk

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all ingredients except the milk and beat well. Add just enough milk to achieve a creamy consistency. Spread filling across cooled cookie circles.

Valentine's Day Roses

 I LOVE this Valentine's Day idea from Family Fun!!
They have some really cute ideas on their site...check it out. I came across this in their February issue and thought it was so cool and I couldn't believe I'd never seen this before! Maybe I've been living under a rock, but I had to try this and my four year old, loved doing it, too. Who knew that celery made a really cool flower stamp!?!?!? This is so easy and a great project for kids. All you need is finger paint, paper, and celery!
 Have fun with this...you can do different colors, a collage of flowers, and more. Of course, we can't just make one thing while we have the paint out, so we did several pictures and I now have some very fun artwork for my wall as well. Enjoy! It will be beautiful because you and your kids did it together!!

Valentine Road Map

  I used to despise Valentine's Day, but since I have kids now, I've found that it's kind of a fun thing to do and a good excuse to buy some extra chocolate (as if I really need an excuse). And, it is an extra special opportunity to be super mushy, which for me, with all the testosterone in this  house, is not always possible!
  Last year, I did a really fun road map valentine for my husband. It was so nostalgic for me and he absolutely loved it! It was simple, but thoughtful, and still inexpensive (depending on your "travel coupons").

I made the boys a dinner they both really like...I can't for the life of me, remember what it was, except that I'm pretty sure it included mashed potatoes...and we all had placemats that I made from 12x12 scrapbook paper, which I placed some of their little goodies on at dinner. For my three year old, it was a book and some M&M's...easy to please! 

 I helped my little one make a card for his Daddy and he insisted on doing hand tracing, too. The card on the left, we made with both of our thumbprints in the shapes of hearts and added some stickers, of course, because every three year old loves stickers!

 These are the "travel brochures"...each is a little mini valentine with a travel theme.

 The "travel itinerary" is a the little "booklet" that enclosed the "brochures", "coupons", and "map".

 This is my favorite part...the map! Each tag with ribbon has a date and something significant to our relationship (for example: when we started dating, when he proposed, etc.). I wrote little notes with some of them and at the "end" I wrote him a little love note.



The coupons can be whatever you want. I can't remember what I did on all of them, but I know one was for a batch of his favorite cookies upon request...didn't take long to cash that in on some PB cookies!

The only materials I used were scrapbook paper, ribbon, inkpads, markers, and stickers....all of which I already had in my craft supplies and the end results were something special!


I hope this inspires you to have some fun and make something special for you favorite valentine, too!