Make Conversation Hearts Treats

Anyone ready for Valentine's Day yet? I love any occasion to celebrate, so I made some cute treats to share with friends and co-workers (and kids' classrooms or scout meetings, if these kinds of treats are allowed).

Conversations hearts are the most iconic of all Valentine's Day candies, so I like to use them as a motif in my decorating and also in any homemade V-day treats I make. You can get them in a big bag, which is ideal for treat-making.

I Heart Rice Krispies Treats

I wanted to see what happened when you crossed conversation hearts with Rice Krispie Treats. The result: cute. The conversation hearts stay hard, and don’t get soggy even after a day.

The official Rice Krispie Treat recipe is the best*:

• 3 tablespoons  butter or margarine
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40)  regular marshmallows
• - OR -
• 4 cups  miniature marshmallows
• 6 cups  Rice Krispies®

And I added 1/2 a cup to 1 cup of conversation hearts.

I also add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla! So good!

Check the website for directions to make them, or there is usually a recipe and directions on the inside of a Rice Krispies box.

*Non name-brand rice cereals also usually have recipes on their boxes, but the ratio of marshmallows to cereal is not as good, I've found. The cereal itself works fine, though! So just buy the cheap cereal but use the name-brand recipe.

Conversation Hearts Fudge

I used this recipe for Conversation Heart Fudge from the Family Fun website. These are cute, but since they're not traditional fudge, they probably taste better for grade schoolers than for adults. If I made these again to give to my friends (big people!), I would probably use a real fudge recipe! Also, unless you are fastidious in cleaning your knife between each cut, the chocolate on the knife sticks on the white layer of fudge. Martha would never approve! Still, they are cute!

Heather Mann brings you a daily dose of cool and cheap craft ideas at Dollar Store Crafts, and is the Editor and Publisher of CROQ Zine, a print magazine devoted to hip crafts and indie business. She's the mother of two small boys and loves to cook with her toddler.

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