Pinterest Test Craft: Heart Crayons for Valentine's Day!

Gia's class is having a little Valentine's Day party and I wanted to make something special for her to give to her classmates. I bought the requisite Disney Princess Valentine's day cards, but that wasn't enough. We are discouraged from sending candy, cookies or cupcakes (which makes sense. Who wants a bunch of 2.5 year olds hopped up on sugar at 9 am?).  So, I started to think about what else I could make.   I remembered that last year a Facebook friend of mine made adorable little crayons in the shape of hearts, so I searched Pinterest for some specifics on how to make them.  I ran into a few snafus along the way (who knew peeling crayons was such a pain the ass?) so below you'll find directions as well as some time-saving tips and tricks.   Here's what you need: 4 boxes of crayons (24 count)  silicone heart shaped "cupcake" mold your oven   Yield: approximately 18 heart crayons 1. Preheat the oven to 250.   2. Lightly grease the mold with cooking spray.   3. Peel all the crayons. If you're having trouble doing this, soak them in water for a few minutes. (I stood them up in a drinking cup.) Once the paper gets wet, it is MUCH easier to peel off.  

  4. Break the crayons up into small pieces and put the pieces in the molds. I did about 4 crayons to a mold. I also put varying colors in each mold so that my crayons turned out multicolored. No need to fill the mold--then the crayons will be too thick anyway. Put the mold on a baking sheet for stability.

  5. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Check on them at the half way point. If they aren't melting uniformly, turn the mold so that the opposite side is now toward the back of the oven. That will help.     6. Once they're melted take them out and cool completely (about 20 minutes). Once they are cool, bend the mold and pop them out. If they are totally cool, and you're gentle, they shouldn't break. (I wasn't too gentle and they still came out very easily.)  

  That's it! Simple and adorable! Pop them in some cute favor bags, or simply attach them to your child's cards and you're done!  

Pinterest Test Kitchen: Pancake Bites

 

  The other day I went on a pinning rampage and found a pin for pancake bites. It wasn't so much a recipe as it was a sentence. It said: Pancake Bites. Use your favorite pancake mix, pour into muffin tins, add fruit, nuts, sausage, bacon, chocolate chips, etc. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes.   Even though I love to cook and I'm pretty good at it, I was still a little confused. Should I make the pancake batter according to the directions on the box? How full should I fill the muffin cups? How would I know when they were done?   So this morning I tested them & they were fabulous! They are SO easy to make (so much less of a pain than actual pancakes) and yet, they still taste exactly like pancakes. Gia had fun helping and she ate them up as soon as they were ready.   Here's what I did:  

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Grease muffin tins.

3. Prepare pancake batter according to the box. (I did 1 cup of pancake mix and 3/4 cup of water. This made 7 pancake bites. Well, 6 and one 'reject' --aka a very small one that really shouldn't have been it's own.)

4. Immediately pour the batter into muffin tin. Fill about 3/4 of the way. (They don't rise as much as you'd think they do.)

 

5. Sprinkle on the toppings of your choice. 

Find a cute little helper if you can!

6. Bake for 13 minutes or until the top is just shy of golden brown. I pulled mine out after 12 minutes and they were good but one minue more would have been even better.

Serve warm!

And, keep an eye on your coffee, lest a little person comes along and hijacks it....