Bake Your Own Valentine Treats for Kids

Flowers and chocolate are traditional offerings on Valentine's Day, and we agree they're lovely and thoughtful. But we've also been thinking about Valentine treats for kids, especially those we can make at home from scratch.

Check out the cute Valentine food ideas we found, along with the tools you'll need to whip them up. In fact, try making these goodies together as a family. You can never add too much love to a recipe.

Valentine Treats for Kids: A Special Breakfast

These dark chocolate waffles from Leite's Culinaria aren't the sort of breakfast you'll make on school days, but that's what makes them so special. We don't usually consider waffles to be a dessert, but this recipe is an exception. Once you check it out, you'll see why.

Top your dark chocolate waffles with homemade raspberry syrup, like this one from Real Housemoms. We recommend this recipe because there isn't as much added sugar as in other recipes. The tartness of the syrup complements the sweet waffles perfectly. Then add a dollop of homemade whipped cream. It's Valentine's Day, after all.

Valentine Treats for Kids: Sweet After-School Snacks

We don't know a single kid (or adult, for that matter) who doesn't like Rice Krispie treats. Make a batch of them, either with plain or strawberry marshmallows, and then roll them out on buttered waxed paper. Perfect Valentine snacks for the classroom too!

Muffins are another delicious Valentine treat. Make the strawberry banana muffins we featured last month in a regular muffin tin, but you can try adding some strawberry juice to tint the batter pink. Just make sure to add a bit more flour too, to keep the proportions on target.

Valentine Treats for Kids: Decadent Desserts

We know chocolate is the traditional flavor associated with Valentine's Day, but pink and red are definitely the traditional colors of this holiday. So we searched for cake recipes that didn't call for food coloring, but still feature festive colors.

This strawberry cake recipe from Atlanta restaurant 4th and Swift, featured on HGTV, has to be a winner. Pastry chef Louie Banes tweaked it to omit the food coloring, using pureed strawberries and strawberry liqueur to achieve the desired taste and color. This cake will take some effort, but it looks like it will be worth it.

Likewise, this red velvet cake recipe from Food52 doesn't include food coloring either. Creator Yossy Arefi went through several iterations of her recipe to get the reddest results she naturally could, without sacrificing taste. The key is using uncooked beet puree, along with acidic ingredients like buttermilk and lemon juice to keep the beets from oxidizing. Still leery of that earthy beet taste creeping into your sweet cake? Don't skimp on the cream cheese frosting.

Finally, instead of baking these cake batters in traditional round cake pans or sheet pans, check out the heart-shaped cake pans from Nordic Ware. We especially love the Tiered Heart Bundt Pan.