Homemade is better? For who? – Hive and Nest

I don’t know why I do this to myself every year. I get some idea in my head for cute Valentines for my kids to give out so I hit the craft store and buy all the necessary stuff. And then I make the food to go inside (because it’s Texas, a lawless frontier where you are allowed to do crazy things like give out homemade food at school. In most states that’s illegal) and I quickly realize that I have bitten off more than I can chew. It wouldn’t be so bad except I have four children giving out Valentines (the one nice thing about Middle School: no Valentines!)

But I’ve made the food and have all the stuff, so I drink a bunch of caffeine and hunker down with my hole punches and glassine bags and curse my stupidity.

Three hours later I have seventy of these nice little Valentines, complete with heart-shaped chocolate chip cookies.

I’ve learned my lesson, though. Next year I’ll glue a mini candy bar to a Spiderman Valentine and call it good. Just you wait and see.

P.S. For perfect heart-shaped cookies, bake your cookie dough in a pan then cut out shapes after it’s cooled. It helps if you grease your pan then flip the whole thing out onto the counter before using your cookie cutters.