A Very Sweet Valentine's Day full of Tradition

2/15/2011

     For as long as I can remember, our family has made giant frosted Valentine's Day cookies for each other.

     We can place the blame onto my mother. Mom began making these either when we were very young - too young to remember - or possibly for my dad after they were married. I don't know. I forgot to ask them last night when we were at their home.

     But ever since Kelsi was one or two years old, I've followed in my mom's footsteps and made the traditional giant frosted sugar cookies for my family!

     I choose my favorite sugar cookie recipe and then usually double or triple it. This year, my mom blessed me with already baked cookies she had prepared since I was going to be away for the entire weekend before Valentine's Day. She had baked four giant cookie hearts for the four of us in my own family, and then she had used the remainder of the dough to make smaller heart cookies that we would be frosting.

     On Sunday evening, the girls and I arrived back into town, unpacked, took our neighbor out to dinner for her birthday, shopped for the ingredients to make non-dairy frosting, came home and made a quadruple batch of frosting, and then headed over to my parents' home for our cookie frosting and decorating party!

     The center of the giant cookie hearts was stacked with a delicious homemade peppermint patty heart. This is one of our traditions as well...and my favorite part! Yum!

     Everyone was very happy with their giant decorated heart-shaped cookies this morning. We will all probably be on a sugar high for the next few days, so I'm thankful that this occurs only once a year! We do enjoy it so much.

For lunch on Valentine's Day, Brittany decided to surprise us with a special lunch! How could I resist that? She made...

Pink Heart-Shaped Pancakes with Red Syrup

and she also took the time to bundle up our silverware nicely as well as decorate the dining room table.

     For dinner, which has no photos to show for it, I decided to use up some of the ingredients in our own home and prepare a less expensive holiday meal that way. I made coconut chicken (divine!), potato gnocchi, and thin asparagus. And of course, we snacked on the giant heart-shaped cookies after dinner!

     We finished up the evening with watching an old, romantic favorite, "Sleepless in Seattle." Nice.

     How did your family choose to celebrate Valentine's Day? Did any of you purpose to do this in a frugal manner?

7 Comments

Heather @ Marine Corps Nomads link

2/15/2011 02:43:00 am

What a fun tradition! My daughter would love the giant cookies. :) Sounds like you had a delightful day.

Since I'm still under the weather, our "heart" day got put on hold. I usually do all heart themed meals and snacks for Valentine's, so I told my daughter that we'd have our complete heart day once I'm back on my feet. ;)

Julieanne link

12/1/2013 05:15:46 pm

Hope you were able to celebrate quickly when you began to feel better, Heather!

Jennifer Unsell link

2/17/2011 02:25:12 pm

Those cookies look amazing! And how sweet of your daughter to make the heart shaped pancakes. I love them.

Julieanne link

12/1/2013 05:15:06 pm

I know! My daughters are both so thoughtful and creative. I love them!

Jayne

2/17/2011 04:29:35 pm

You will have to share your non-dairy frosting recipe.

:)

That looks like such a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day!

Julieanne

2/17/2011 04:30:57 pm

Jayne,

I used the normal frosting recipe from Wilton.com, but used Nucoa margarine in it (blech - we prefer butter for everything, but we used it anyway - sigh), and almond milk. It tasted just fine. No one could tell the difference, thankfully.

Julieanne

Julieanne

2/17/2011 04:36:26 pm

Non-Dairy Icing

Blend well together:

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened (I used Nucoa brand for this to be non-dairy)

Add and mix well:

1 teaspoon clear or regular vanilla extract

Add 4 cups sifted (1 lb.) powdered confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time, blending well between each cup.

Icing will appear dry. Add 2 Tbsp. milk (or coconut milk or almond milk or soy milk, for non-dairy). If icing is still stiff, add 2-4 Tbsp. corn syrup or agave to thin and smooth down the icing for spreading on cookies.

If piping icing decorations onto iced cookies, you may want to add an additional 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar to the icing before using it with icing tips and decorating bags, IF you have already added corn syrup or agave to the recipe.

Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Hi! I'm Julieanne!
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