Valentine's Day is one of those holidays that kids really look forward to—so many treats and secret notes to share—and I wanted to make a recipe at home that my son could have fun with. I started with these heart-shaped cookies from our magazine, then came up with custom flavorings. We combined brown sugar and cream cheese and stirred maple syrup into peanut butter, then opened up some raspberry jam, a chocolate-hazelnut spread, sweetened coconut flakes, and had a ball mixing and matching. Once the cookies were assembled, it was like opening up a box of chocolates. We had fun tasting this one and that one to find a favorite (mine: brown sugar-cream cheese and maple peanut butter). This chocolate dough would work too. Here's a slideshow of our experiment.
1 The cookies can be made a couple days ahead.
2 Inspiration starts in a jar.
3 Cream cheese and brown sugar.
4 Getting in on the action.
5 Raspberry jam and coconut.
6
7 Love those Valentine's colors!
8
9 Half the fun right there.
10
11 Aftermath.
12
