Cooking With Kids - Cookie Ideas for Valentine's Day

Every Saturday I offer a cooking tip or recipe for families, so they can enjoy cooking together. If you read my blog each Saturday, you may remember that last Saturday's tip was for making edibile works of art such as pizza.

Child author, Adora Svitak, and her sister, Adrianna, love to cook and they sent me a photo of themselves and a pizza they concocted, along with the following information written by Adora.


Child author, Adora Svitak, and her older sister, Adrianna, make pizza!

Adora says: "Some people think that the only thing I do all day is read and write. That's not true, because I also love to cook, and today I cooked some pizza with my older sister, Adrianna. It wasn't really all pizza or anything, in fact I didn't even make any pizza --- I only made one little bun and three hearts (with the help of a cookie cutter) out of dough and I colored it with tomato sauce. I thought it would taste a little more like tomato sauce, but really it tasted more like bread with a bit of sauce spread over. Adrianna's pizza was a hit, though. My mom devoured some (despite the fact pizza is her sworn archenemy) and I took a huge slice. Adrianna made two little cats, a bun, and two large pizzas. I can't wait to cook again!"


Adora's Book


Kids - Visit Adora's website for other interesting photos and information about Adora and her family. Read more of Adora's blog here or read my review of her book called FLYING FINGERS:Master the Tools of Learning Through the Joy of Writing.

SATURDAY'S FOOD TIP - Make a Giant Heart-Shaped Cookie for Valentine's Day!

Here's today's tip for "cooking with kids."

Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe (I prefer to use a package of Three Angels Sugar Cookie Mix, of course) to make a giant heart-shaped cookie for Valentine's Day.



Prepare the sugar cookie dough according to your recipe, then pat the dough into a heart shape (like the heart pictured above) in a large round pizza pan. Bake the cookie heart according to your recipe's directions. When the cookie has finished baking, let it cool completely.

Decorate the heart with powdered sugar icing (tint it pink or red with a little food coloring, if you like). Top with candy sprinkles, a little colored granulated sugar, or write a special Valentine's Day message across the cookie with some white icing.



Find out how to make these pretty heart-shaped decorated cookies here. You can give some of these yummy cookies to all your friends for Valentine's Day.

Happy Baking!



"Food is our common ground, a universal experience." - James Beard