Making Valentine's with my Valentine's

I took alot of time thinking about what we could make together for TinyDancer to bring into school for her friends Valentine's. We made our list, and ran out to the store to get supplies yesterday. Once I actually sat back and added up the costs, I decided that we needed a change of plans. I wanted something we could do together, and that everyone would enjoy. After walking around the store for a bit, it hit me. I'd make chocolate covered strawberries for her teachers, and just buy the plain valentine's for her friends. BUT-if I already had the chocolate, then I may as well just make heart shaped lollipops for he friends then, right? So, that's what we did. It was an afternoon production, which was interupted by dance class, but we had a blast.

First, we made the chocolate covered strawberries.
I used 2 Qts of Strawberries, and 8oz of chocolate.

Wash strawberries and pat dry. Melt the chocolate on low in a small sauce pan.

Once chocolate begins melting, add 1 tbsp. Veg. Shortning (this will make it shiny!)

Wisk together until smooth. Remove from heat.

Dip strawberry into chocolate, twisting to cover all sides. Remove slowly, and let excess chocolate drip off.

Put dipped strawberries on a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Once cooled, we drizzled pink and red chocolate across them.

I found these heart shaped Reynold's tins at Job Lot. I put 3 strawberries into each of them.

Then wrapped them up in red tulle and tied it with a pink ribbon.


Then TinyDancer and I got down to business making the lollipops. She wanted to make them for both her friends at school, and the girls that she dances with. That's quite a few lollipops!
We used a heart shaped lollipop mold, pink and red chocolate, lollipop sticks, and plastic bags.

First we melted the chocolate in the microwave on defrost, then stirred it to be smooth.


Then used a spoon and filled the molds. The sticks went in after, and then we made sure that they were covered with extra chocolate.

We put them outside to cool, since it was 15 degrees out. They were done in about 3 minutes!
We put them in the bags, tied them off with a red tulle bow, and attached them to the Valentine's Day Cards Tiny Dancer signed.



It was definately a fun, yet tiring afternoon. Hopefully, next year SweetPea will be able to help us!