I Heart Valentine's Day!

Ahhhhh Yes! Valentine's day is so very close. I love this special holiday. All of the pink and red makes me giddy like a little school girl waiting for that little paper valentine from the dreamy blue eyed boy in the seat beside her.  Do you remember those days when everyone swpped their valentine cards at school? Those days have since past but the sweet memories linger. Now that my little Princess is getting older she will soon get to make those memories with her school friends and I can't wait to help her make the cutest little valentine for that dreamy blue eyed boy.  Shhhh....don't tell her daddy I said that. He has decided to keep her under lock and key until she is 30!!!
She is only 4 and already stealing hearts. She just performed in her first ballet recital this past weekend and made hearts melt with her smile. Okay...she made my heart and her daddy's heart melt. Can you tell we are proud parents?  Here are a few pictures of her on stage. No stage fright at all.

(By the way, I married that dreamy blue eyed boy and he is still dreamy and Oh so wonderful.)

Okay, I got a little off  the Valentine subject for a second but I could not resist sharing my pics with you.

Since this is such a "SWEET" holiday for me  I would like to share with you a couple of treats that I made to celebrate.  There is nothing like peanut butter and chocolate together. Don't you agree? One of my all time favorite treats is the Reese cup. They have the Double Peanut Butter Hearts out for Valentine's. Yum!  I think I can do one better than that. How about Peanut Butter Brownies covered in chocolate? Oh, Yeah! That's the ticket. Just wait until you see what I did with the scraps. :)

It all started with this recipe...

PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES

1 cup AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

6 Tbls. butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla flavor

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8 x 2 in. square pan with bakers joy or Non-stick spray.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a large bowl, beat peanut butter, butter and sugars with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, and vanilla.

Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 mintues or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely. Turn out onto a piece of waxed paper to cut into shapes if desired.

 Cut out the brownies

Melt your chocolate morsels in the microwave. (DO NOT GET WATER IN THE CHOCOLATE)

It will seize up and ruin the chocolate.

Using a spatula, cover the bottom of the brownie with chocolate and place on bakers rack chocolate side up. you can place them in the freezer for a couple of minutes to speed up the drying process.

This is a messy process but worth it.

Now cover the sides and top of brownies with chocolate.

Place back on the bakers rack and into freezer for a few minutes.

You can leave them as is or add a little more to dress them up. I used white chocolate to decorate them.

store them in a single layer in an air tight container. You can package them seperately for gifts too.

I had a lot of left over brownie pieces too. I've always been taught, "Waste not, Want not".

So I took a little time to make some brownies pops. Here's how.

I used my food processor to make crumbs and then added a little cream cheese frosting to it.

I forgot to take a picture of the brownie mix as I rolled it into balls. But that is what you do. Just roll it into 1 1/2" balls. Place on a waxed paper covered cookie sheet and freeze for abot 15 minutes.

I used white chocolate to cover them . I melted the chocolate in the microwave and added a little marshmallow and coconut flavored oil to it. (It was so good)

Remove the balls from the freezer and insert sucker sticks into each ball. Dip into the chocolate and gently tap and swirl to remove excess. You can add sprinkles like I did or get a little more creative.

Here is the finished product with a few heart shaped chocolate lollipops added in.

My inspiration came from Bakerella. If you haven't seen her creative pops you should really check her blog out.

As Always....Enjoy! And Happy Valentine's Day!

XOXO

The Cookie Girl

Valentine's Day Ideas

ro-mance -roh-mans–verb (used with object) 1. to court or woo romantically; treat with ardor or chivalrousness.

As you all know by now, I love Valentine's Day. So I thought I would share with you some very easy and inexpensive ideas to "romance" the love of your life on the sweetest of days.

A Valentine bought or even made is a Valentine worth sending.

Purchase or make your Valentine's day card in advance and mail it to Loveland, Colorado, for extra special treatment. Your card will be postmarked LOVEland, Colorado, and it will also be handstamped with a unique four-line poem.

The Loveland Chamber of Commerce organizes this yearly romance project with cards going to all fifty states and over 100 foreign countries annually.
It's simple. Just enclose your pre-addressed, prestamped Valentine's card in a larger envelope and mail to:

Postmaster, Attn: Valentine's, Loveland, CO 80537

Don't stop here! Even if you can't cook or just don't really have the time to, there are many edible ideas to make this Valentine's day sweet. (This is a Rated G Blog) LOL

Breakfast with Heart

Use a heart cookie cutter to cut out your bread for toast.

Even use a smaller heart cookie cutter to cut out little pats of butter in heart shapes. (The butter should be chilled but not hard to do this)

This time of year there are an abundance of heart shaped items available. You can find heart containers everywhere. Purchase one to put your jam or jelly into serve with toast.

Instead of regular juice glasses, use champagne flutes and tint your OJ with a bit of red food color. It won't be red but a pretty salmon color. (Don't use too much or it will taste funny)

Who doesn't love chocolate covered Strawberries? They are a favorite of mine! Use them for breakfast too.

Snack Time

My DH goes to work early in the morning and is always hungry way before lunch time. I love to fix him little snack packs to take with him when he leaves. Sometimes I just slip them into his bag and he is surprised when he opens it. He loves them .

For a special Valentine's day snack add all of these ingredients into a ziploc back and tie with a red ribbon.

Ingredients:

Mini Marshmallows

Milk Chocolate Morsels

( change it up if you like White Chocolate,Butterscotch etc...)

Walnuts or nut of choice

Cranberries

Red Hots or a favorite red candy that isn't sticky

Shake it up and tie with a ribbon. Write a love note and slip it into you love's bag for a sweet Valentine Snack.

You light up my life

Twinkle lights are not just for Christmas anymore! They can be used to form messages too.

Whether you use the message to propose or reaffirm your love, it will certainly make for a very beautiful and memorable evening.

Baby It's Cold Outside~Use it for Romance

In some places there is always snow in February. Take advantage of it. Take a squirt bottle add ice cold water and red food color or a pack of red kool-aid. Shake it up and get to work!

Spray out a message on your front or back lawn that says I love you or something sweet like that. Be creative!

These are just a few fun ideas to use. I hope you enjoy them.

They are great for guys and gals both.

Here's to Love and Romance

xoxo

WOW!!!

Wow!!!!

What a great response from all of you ladies on the Valentine's Day giveaway. I am enjoying each and every comment. This is so much fun for me and you gals crack me up. I wish you all luck on winning.

Deadline is February 1st.

Valentine Swap! Hurry....Sign up ends today!

My First Blogging Contest

I am a Libra, a romantic and a lover by nature. Give me romance or give me death! LOL Okay, maybe I am not quite that extreme but very close. So I am sure that by me telling you I LOVE LOVE LOVE Valentine's day, will come as no surprise. Did I mention LOVE? :)
I have even changed my blog background for this sappy, lovey dovey holiday. And of course, wouldn't you know it! My anniversary is only 3 days after Valentines day.

Okay.....so I think my point has been made and with that being said, GUESS WHAT!!!

I am having my very first contest/giveaway on my blog to celebrate.

If you remember one of my very first posts last year was about these great vintage pin-up style aprons by Carolyn's Kitchen. Yep! You guessed it! That is what will be given away. Carolyn West, the creator of the aprons was so wonderful to donate this apron for my giveaway!

THANKS A BUNCH CAROLYN! YOU ROCK!!!!

Not only that, If you don't happen to be the lucky winner, you will be able to purchase one through my webshop very soon. How cool is that? I am so excited!

Carolyn's aprons are so fun and have such great patterns. They have been featured in All You Magazine, Paula Deen, on Fashionably late with Stacy London and more.

So here is the apron that you could win. Sweetheart Orange Isn't just adorable?

Now here are the rules of the contest.

Begin by following my blog, once you do that, leave a comment on this post about the aprons, if you like to cook in aprons, vintage finds etc. and let me know that you are following me.

For more chances to win

Post about my contest on your blog (5 more entries)

Leave a comment on any post following this one and that will be 1 entry for each time you post.

The contest ends on February 1st. Just in time for V-Day! Good Luck to you all !!!