No, I did not misspell the word “Sweetheart”. I was using “Sweetart” as a play on words, in reference to the popular sour candy Sweetarts.
When you think of the words “Valentine’s Day” and “Sweet” together chances are you think of great big heart shaped boxes of chocolates, or perhaps something a bit more romantic like strawberries dipped in chocolate. Yummy! While these treats might be great for adults, they are not exactly practical for kids, especially to hand out to their friends and classmates for Valentine’s Day.
I remember the days when my kids would sit at the table filling out Valentine’s Day cards for their friends and classmates. My kids are teenagers now and think that handing out Valentine’s Day cards is childish. Meanwhile I gave them a bunch of Valentine’s Day theme candies from Nestle and all of a sudden they are excited about handing out the Valentine’s Day candies to their friends.
Ahh… teenagers. Got to love them! 🙂
I like that Nestle brand candies come in fun Valentine’s Day designs, as well as places to write “to” and “from”. There is no need for an actual Valentine’s Day card when you can give someone a Valentine’s Day candy instead. My kids already filled out the “to” and “from” section on some of the candies. Others they want to hand out anonymously.
Nestle combined some of their most popular candies into assorted mixes so there is sure to be plenty of favorites to handout. Judging by the fact that most of the Gobstoppers and Nerds are missing from the bags, I can tell which ones are popular with my kids (and my hubby).
Even Fun Dip has been decked out in Valentine’s Day designs. Each Fun Dip comes individually packaged with one flavor and one candy stick. You can even fill out the “to” and “from” section and hand them out the same way you would a card.
I have been enjoying Fun Dip since I was a young girl. My favorite part is not the dip, but the candy stick. Sometimes I’d buy Fun Dip just for the stick.
For added fun there are “Mystery” Fun Dip packages too. The recipient has no clue what the flavor might be. My kids think they already know the flavors. For example, one of the Mystery Flavor packages is purple. My kids think it’s grape just because of the color. They might be correct but I think Nestle would make it a bit more challenging then that.
If your child prefers handing out an actual card, but would also like to include a sweet treat too, the Sweetart Valentine’s Day cards with candy is a nice option. The boxed “kit” comes with cards that you child can fill out and individual rolls of Sweetarts that you child can insert into the middle of the card in the pre-cut slots.
If sweet and sour candies are not your thing you can also pick up a few bags of individually wrapped heart shaped Nestle Crunch or Butterfingers. Each piece is the perfect bit size. I like that they are heart shaped so you can use them as decorations too. If I was having guests over for Valentine’s Day I would put some out in pretty glass bowls.
Each holiday season when I receive some Nestle candies to review I like to create a recipe or two. This time was no exception – except that we got hit with a huge snow storm, followed by ice and rain. I haven’t been able to get out and shop for baking supplies. The weather people are predicting another 2″ – 4″ tomorrow and another possible snowstorm on Saturday – on top of the 12″ – 14″ of snow we already have. Blah!
Not to let the weather get the best of me I came up with a quick recipe idea using ingredients I had in my pantry. This one was pretty simple. I took a box of pre-made chocolate cake mix and added in some crushed Nestle Crunch heart candies into the mix and baked it like I normally would. Easy peasy!
After the cake baked and cooled I frosted it with Vanilla frosting. To decorate the cake I wanted to crush up some Sweetarts because they are colorful. My husband felt that the sourness of the Sweetarts might not mix well with the chocolate cake and Vanilla frosting. My kids were intrigued by the combination but in the end my hubby won out. So I used regular sprinkles instead. I still think the Sweetarts would have made a fun topping. They are round like Polka Dots and would have looked cute.
I like the heart shaped Nestle Crunch candies (the same ones I crushed up and put in the cake) so much that I used them to top each cake slice too.
I’m sorry that the photos didn’t turn out as good as I wanted it to. You can sort of see the flecks of crushed up Nestle Crunch candies. Next time I think I’ll try this with a Vanilla cake. Not only would it stand out more I think it would give the cake a cool look with the yellow cake with chocolate specs throughout.
I wanted to try a similar recipe with the Butterfinger candies. I wanted to get a basic, pre-made cookie mix (plain cookies) and mix in some crushed Butterfinger candies. Prior to baking I would also add some crushed up Butterfingers to the top of the cookie. Another idea I thought of was making the “Blossoms” cookies. In the middle I would use a Butterfinger (or Crunch) heart. I am not sure if they would melt and lose their shape or not, but if they didn’t I think they would make cute cookies for a classroom Valentine’s Day party, or even just to share with your family.
Do you use Nestle candies in any of your baking? If so I would love to hear about it. Feel free to leave a comment and tell me about your wonderful creations.
I would love to hear about a recipe that uses Fun Dip. I’m still trying to come up with something really good for that candy. That is my next challenge – a Fun Dip recipe!
Does your child still give out Valentine’s Day cards and treats to their friends and classmates? Or are your kids like me and think it’s not really “cool” to do something like that (even thought mine plan on giving out candy anyway).
Kimberly
*I received free products samples in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and were not influcned in any way.
Tammy S says
This looks so good. Yum!