Happy Sunday! The week of love and hearts is ready for us. Are you like me, asking yourself how did we already get six weeks into this new year? We have been busy with a wonderful visit from grandma, birthdays, cleaning up snow, and I must admit that I’m still writing 2016 on things- I’ll get it right one day. In this post there are some love links followed by pictures of our latest baking adventure- homemade pop tarts- yes, it’s a real thing!
Allow me to share some LINKS TO LOVE! If you have a little time to read or listen, check these out:
The New York Times swears that if we ask our partner these 36 questions we can fall in love (or use them to reconnect if you are already in love) definitely worth checking out the fun list. Try to answer a few of them on V- Day with your love! The podcast is in this link, too.
A Day Trip to Cold Spring Harbor- My article that was on our local parenting website this week! I’m talking salted caramel brownies and fancy coffee- yes!
I was the guest blogger last week on this popular mom site- check it out
I have long loved Valentine’s Day. It’s the perfect no-pressure holiday full of sweet treats and chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. My mom was always great at doing something special on these little holidays- usually she would surprise me with a fancy cupcake for breakfast and always a card, my family loves to do cards-such a small gesture that made me feel special all day as a kid;) So, I started thinking about the treats we’d have on V-Day…
As a true child of the 80’s, I love Pop Tarts. Specifically, I love the blueberry ones with icing. When I was pregnant with the twins there were lots of them consumed. Lots. Imagine my surprise when I learned (from internet scrolling, of course) that you could make you own and double surprise- it’s not that difficult. I knew this would be our perfect Valentine’s Day treat!
Lately, the twins LOVE to help in the kitchen. Whether it’s stirring or getting their own square of parchment paper, they love to be involved. Yes, it’s a mess, but what’s not a mess with this group? Also, if you’re annoyed with me thinking… her toddlers must be making a mess and have their hands in the toilet (that’s their dream thing to do, their ultimate conquest) while she’s baking real things with rolling pins and flour- keep this in mind- my mom was here visiting for two weeks- and that is the ONLY way this project was completed with three little ones. When I do a project like this it’s usually over a few days, I will make the dough one day, then finish the baking on a different day.
First, we cut up lots of butter- 2 sticks, to be exact. One cup- that’s part of why these are so delicious. Bonus- while there’s lots of buttery goodness, there’s not much sugar in these.
We mix butter into flour…
Then add milk, sugar and an egg…
Then, the fun part- get it all squishy…
Roll it out! This dough is very soft and sticky- it needs at least six hours in the freezer.
Pile up the blueberry filling (just frozen blueberries cooked down with a little maple syrup).
Assemble your tarts! Strangely enough, they resemble real Pop Tarts.
Finally, we iced them and admired our work. Dad tasted them and proclaimed, “Delicious!” I told him that’s all the butter talking. These are the perfect tasty treat for a sweet V- Day celebration. Here’s the links to the recipes used:
Pop Tarts from Smitten Kitchen
Another Pop Tart recipe to try out
Everything is better with icing
What do you do to make Valentine’s Day special? For you, for your loved ones, for the kiddos? Love to hear from you.
Happy Valentine’s Day from The Party of Five Blog!
I would LOVE to try these pop tarts and will let you know how they turn out here in Texas.