Here’s how we made them and at the end you’ll find a printable recipe card you can download.

Valentine crispy cake recipe

To make around 20 small heart shaped lollipops you will need:

25g butter :: 170g  marshmallows :: 120g rice crispy type cereal :: sprinkles, jelly sweets or red laces for decoration :: lollipop sticks

Put the butter and marshmallows in a large pan. Heat gently and stir until all the marshmallows have melted.

Add the rice crispy cereal and stir gently until all the cereal is coated with the marshmallow mixture. Add in any sprinkles for extra decoration.

There two ways you can make your heart shapes.

:: line cookie cutters with cling wrap and then fill well with the rice crispy mixture. Leave to cool and then pop out the shapes. You’ll need lots of cookie cutters if you do it this way.

:: line a baking tin (ours was about 25cm square) with baking paper and then fill with the rice crispy mixture. Flatten down the surface with the back of a spoon.

You need the hearts to be fairly thick (2cm+) so there is room to push in the lollipop stick later. You might like to add some extra sprinkles on the surface of the hearts while the marshmallow is still sticky.

Once the rice crispy mix has cooled, cut out your heart shapes with a cookie cutter. Flip the cutter over as you cut along to fit more hearts in. Doing it this way does mean you have some of the crispy cake left over – but I’m sure you’ll find someone who’s willing to eat the offcuts!

Like this? Please share!

If you’d like a copy of the recipe to take in to the kitchen print our crispy cake recipe here.

You can find all our other Valentine ideas here.
And if you liked the crispy cake recipe you might like to try our other Kids in the Kitchen recipes.

Customised soup recipe

The great thing about this vegetable soup recipe is that there isn’t really a recipe at all- just suggestions for your children to help them create a signature dish of their own. Whatever combination of vegetables you choose, a ratio of around 10 veggies to 2 pints stock is a rough guide –  but have some extra stock ready just in case you need it. We went with 1 onion, 2 celery sticks, half a bulb of fennel, 3 carrots, 3 parsnips and 1 sweet potato, together with 2 pints of chicken stock. This made enough for two lunches for four.

Vegetable soup basic principles:

1. Fry some base vegetables in oil in a really big pan: onions, garlic, celery

2. Peel and chop some root vegetables and add them to your pan: potato, carrots, sweet potato, parsnips, swede and fennel are all good. We always add fennel as our secret ingredient as a little of it makes the soup delicious. Use a child-friendly peeler to make it easier and don’t worry too much about all the vegetables being chopped to the same size.

3. Add some herbs for extra flavour: take a pick from cumin, coriander, oregano, thyme, caraway, parsley or rosemary

4. Add chicken, turkey or vegetable stock to cover the vegetables and simmer away for around 20-30 minutes

5. Once the vegetables are soft you can blend the soup, adding more stock or water if you like to get the thickness you prefer

6. We love to serve our customised soup with Parmesan cheese and pine nut kernels on top. The soup freezes really well too

More kids in the kitchen ideas

:: do your kids know how to crack an egg?

:: ever made mini meringues?

:: ever eaten a snowman?

:: ever made edible snowflakes?

One of my favourite things to bake are these Christmas Tree Cookie-pops, which I make for all my nieces and nephews at our family Christmas party. They’re yummy, fun and ever so easy to make. Here’s the recipe.

Christmas tree cookie pops recipe

The cookies are made using our favourite gingerbread recipe, which is a great one to use with kids as it’s so easy to make.

Stamp out your Christmas tree shapes with a cookie cutter and pop a wooden lollipop stick carefully in the base of each one. Place the cookies on a greased or lined baking sheet and bake for around 10-15 minutes at gas mark 5 / 190 C until golden. Leave the Christmas tree cookies on the baking sheet until completely cool.

Then for the really fun bit: decorating your trees. We used icing as ‘glue’ to stick on sweets but you can also use tubes of icing to pipe on ‘tinsel’ and other decorations.

Enter the Sudocrem Christmas Superchef competition

Are you going to be doing any kind of Christmas cooking over the holiday? If so, head over to the Sudocrem Facebook page and click on the ‘Christmas Superchef 2011′ link on the left-hand side of the page. You can upload a photo of what you’ve made and pop your recipe in the comment. You can also be inspired by the other recipes on there. The competition is open until 4th January 2012 and with the chance to win a cookery school course for two in France,  a £150 luxury hamper or £75 of M&S vouchers, why not give it a try!

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happily shared with get your craft on and made by you monday and monday madness  and made by little hands and  link and learn and the sunday showcase and Christmas traditions link up and  it’s playtime and thrifty thursday