Happy Valentine Birthday!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Pretty flowers, red and pink hearts, too much chocolate and loads of love – I just love Valentine’s Day. 

Tonight we will keep our V-day tradition going of dining at one of our favorite restaurants, Cajun Queen. Afterwards we will likely polish off the rest of the Chocolate Heart Peanut Butter Cookies I baked earlier this week. 

And I can't forget to mention another important reason why I love Valentine's Day...

It's my sister's birthday! Yep, she's a Valentine baby, so she gets a lot of extra love today!

Last weekend I made a special trip home to Orlando and my mom and I took her out for an early birthday dinner. 

Happy Birthday, Seester! 

Wishing you all a sweet and lovely Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate Heart Peanut Butter Cookies

Surprise! I have another delicious Valentine recipe for ya!

Earlier this week I asked Matt what sort of Valentine treat he wanted me to bake this year. I gave him several cake, cupcake and cookie options and he surprisingly said "I want those amazing chocolate heart cookies you made last year!" That was great news for me because the rest of the options were going to take a lot more work.

Chocolate Heart Peanut Butter Cookies

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon water

1 egg

2 tablespoons sugar

36 heart-shaped milk chocolate candies

Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, oil, water and egg until dough forms. Shape dough into 36 (1-inch) balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately press chocolate candy into top of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 20 minutes, before storing in tightly covered container.

Yields 3 dozen cookies.

I must say, these heart cookies are super addicting. Anytime there is a combination of peanut butter and chocolate, I lose all will power to have just one.  I think these may just have to be a Valentine tradition in our home.

Valentine Breakfast {in under 5 minutes}!

I’ve noticed that the older I get, the less of a “morning person” I am becoming. On average, I snooze my alarm clock for at least 45 minutes every morning {the husband looooves it} and once I do get up, my first stop is the coffee pot. 

Since Valentine’s Day falls during the workweek this year, I decided to surprise Matt with an early V-Day breakfast this past Sunday. Last year, I spent hours perfecting cake batter pancakes {read about it here}. However, this year I got clever and spent a grand total of 5 minutes preparing a plate of festive heart shaped waffles. 

My secret...

Yep, Aunt Jemima helped me out. All I had to do was toast and cut ‘em!

And Matt loved it. He didn’t even have a clue that it took me less than 5 minutes to prepare…well, until he asked for seconds {ergh}. 

Because it was so quick and easy to pull off, I may even surprise the hubs with round two on Thursday morning.

Are you making a special breakfast for someone on Thursday?