Ma Ledford & the Gang: February 2012

Our family doesn't typically do much to celebrate Valentine's Day. I mean, I love my people EVERYday and I certainly do not want to pay extra to love them on February 14. I have come to realize, however, that we are missing out on some fun, creative opportunities by ignoring the day all together. So this year, I'm doing things a little different {don't worry honey, I'm not blowing the budget on pricey gifts}. Some things must remain secret until after Valentine's Day, but we made a yummy treat today and I wanted to share.

My kids are suckers for Oreos, especially the ones with the colored "stuffing." I discovered these yummy vittles on a quick grocery run the other day.

When I saw that the filling was pink, I had an idea {scary, I know!}. I assembled the materials and workers in the kitchen this morning and we came up with these tasty Valentine's Day Oreos.

You will need:
*Oreos (flavor of your choosing)
*red candy melt (almond bark or melting chocolates would work too!)
*cookie "bling" to decorate with (we used several varieties of sprinkles from the Wilton sweetheart jar)
*small bowls (one each for cookie melt and each type of bling)
*spoon (to stir candy melt)
*wax paper

I gathered all of the materials first as the candy melt begins to harden pretty quickly.

1. Choose your cookie bling and place in small bowls for easy dunking. (Note: the colored sugars didn't turn out so well. We had much better success with the jimmies, nonpareils, and heart mix.)

2. Melt the candy melts in a small bowl in the microwave (make sure to follow the directions on the package).

3. Dip half of the cookie into the melt, making sure to get a good layer of gooey yumminess on the cookie. (You could dip the whole cookie, the final product would just be much sweeter. Dipping only half also allows a nice dry area to hold on to.) Remove any drippage before moving to the next step - this will prevent the candy melt from falling off into your bling bowl and "wasting" it.

4. Dunk the ooey, gooey end of cookie into the bling bowl. Tilting the bowl to collect the bling on a small area and gently tapping the cookie into the bling yields a better result than swirling it around, again, minimizing "waste."