By Catherine McCord
Valentine’s Day may be all about the love, but for kids it’s all about the food! And while it’s easy to pick up a bag of candy hearts, why not make something special to really show how much you love someone. These recipes are not only naturally sweet they’re a perfect way to get in the kitchen with you kids making something simply delicious.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Heart Tarts (Makes 10-11 Heart Tarts)
heart tarts

  • 1/2 Cup Raspberries
  • 1/4 Cup Whipped Cream Cheese
  • 1 Tbsp Honey
  • 1 Double Pie Crust Recipe or 1 14 oz Pre-Made Pie Crust*
  • Water
  • 1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
  • 10 Raspberries for Icing or 2 Tbsp Juiced Raspberries
  • 1 Tbsp Milk or Water

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Place the raspberries, cream cheese and honey in a bowl. Using the back of a fork, mash the raspberries with the cream cheese, leaving some pieces of raspberry intact.
  3. Roll the pie crust 1/4 inch thick and using a heart shaped cookie cutter (my heart cookie cutter is about the size of my fist), cut out hearts (or, if you are using packaged pie crust just unroll and cut out hearts).
  4. Place one heart on a lightly floured work surface and place 2 tsp of the cream cheese mixture in the very center, leaving a 1/4″ border around the cut-out.
  5. Lightly dip your index finger into a cup of water and “brush” the border with the water (this will allow the two sides of the heart to adhere to one another).
  6. Top with another heart and take the tines of a fork and gently press down along the edges to adhere (making sure the cream cheese mixture stays inside the heart pocket). With a toothpick, poke some holes in the top of the heart to remove any air pockets.**
  7. Place on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until golden.
  8. While the hearts are baking, take 10 raspberries, place in a strainer and press down with the back of a spoon to release raspberry juice into a bowl — should be about 2 tbsp of juice depending on how juicy the raspberries are.
  9. Whisk in the milk and slowly pour in the powdered sugar to make icing.
  10. When cool, take a spoon and spread the raspberry icing over the hearts.
  11. Serve.

* You can use prepared Pie Crusts too such as Pillsbury or your favorite brand*
* To Freeze: place hearts on a cookie sheet and freeze for one hour. Remove hearts and place in a ziploc bag, label and freeze up to 3 months. When ready follow steps 7-11, adding an extra 3 minutes to the baking time.

Oatmeal Chocolate Sea Salt Cookies (Makes 4-5 Dozen)
heart tarts

  • 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, softened
  • 1 Cup Brown Sugar (light or dark)
  • 1/2 Cup Sugar
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
  • 1 Tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/2 Tsp Salt
  • 3 Cups Old Fashioned Oats
  • 1 12 oz Bag Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Sea Salt Flakes (I use Maldon Sea Salt)

** Do NOT use iodized salt on top of the cookies.

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Using a standing or hand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until creamy and fluffy, about 4 minutes ( I know 4 minutes seems like a long time, but it makes all the difference).
  3. Add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
  4. Stir the flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl.
  5. Slowly add the flour to the butter/sugar mixture until combined.
  6. Stir in oats and chocolate chips mixing well until combined.
  7. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet.
  8. *Press down each cookie and top with a few flakes of sea salt.
  9. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.
  10. Cool and serve.

You can also bake them in silicone individual muffin tins as I did in the picture for 18-20 minutes.** After step #8, place sheet tray in the freezer for several hours, remove cookies to labeled zipper bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake according to directions in step #9.

Catherine McCord launched Weelicious in 2007, providing a solution to parents’ hectic lives by showing them how to cook recipes that are kid-friendly, quick and nutritious. With a background in culinary arts from New York City’s prestigious Institute of Culinary Education, and a passion for food, Catherine has developed recipes that appeal to a range of ages. Weelicious focuses on educating kids and involving them in the process with how-to cooking videos featuring Catherine’s own two children.