Five Valentine’s Day Treats on the Cheap – With a Free Heart Printable

Don’t you wish Valentine’s Day hit at a better time of the year? It would be great if it was warmer and wasn’t at the end of the holiday craziness. It’s like I just got my finances back on track in January and then – BAM! – Valentine’s Day hits! The pressure of dresses, dinner, flowers and treats all rest on us with a dead weight! Here are five cheap Valentine’s Day treats that won’t break the bank.

Saving money is cool, but societal norms seem to pressure us into spending more money. Jason and I use the statement “we CHOOSE to not buy this or that.” The choice is ours and we’d rather see more savings in our bank account than Instagram photos if we had a fancy and expensive date. That phrase eased the transition to save more and spend less. In this case, we will CHOOSE to make frugal Valentine’s Day treats!

5 Frugal Valentine’s Day Treats

Saltine Toffee Cookie

Using my all-time favorite Saltine Toffee Cookie recipe from All Recipes (https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/11376/saltine-toffee-cookies/), prepare saltines and sugar/butter mixture. Place in the oven and when the saltines come out, sprinkle with white chocolate. As the chocolate starts to melt, spread it over the hot sugar/crackers. Allow it to cool completely. If you don’t, the chocolate may separate from the sugar/cracker mixture (just speaking from experience here!)  

To make the pink chocolate, melt a ¼ cup of the white chocolate in a Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave at 30-second increments. Place one drop of red food coloring in the melted white chocolate and mix. Keep adding one drop of food coloring at a time until you get the color you want.

Once you are satisfied with the color, put the melted chocolate in a sandwich ziplock bag (we’re going frugal here!) and cut off just a tiny bit of the tip of the bag’s corner so that you can squeeze it out. I’ve cut it too big before and it just globs out in a hot mess. Also, don’t press too hard on the corner as the ziplock bag can break and spray chocolate all over the place (again, more experiences so you don’t have to go through this like I did)!

Drizzle the top of the saltines with the pink/red mixture. I drizzled again with white so it had a two-toned effect to it.

Heart Shaped Brownies Drizzled with Chocolate

This is one of my all time favorites! I LOVE brownies and can gobble down a whole pan in no time if you left me alone!

First, you’ll need to whip up a batch of brownies of your preference (or just follow the box’s instructions, like I did). After they cook, allow the pan of brownies to cool. Use a small, heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out the hearts and place aside. Almost all of my brownies came out staying in the cookie cutter except for two that were my fault.

Melt ¼ cup of chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time in a Pyrex measuring cup.

Pour the warm chocolate into a ziplock bag and snip the bottom corner off (just a tiny hole as you don’t want it to come out gooey!) just like the instructions in Saltine Toffee Cookies.  Drizzle the heart shaped brownies with this melted chocolate. Let them stand until they harden. I served mine with red raspberries!

These are fantastic valentine snacks for the classroom, too.  It doesn’t take a lot of time to make them, and almost every kid loves chocolate brownies!

Hugs and Kisses Heart Jar with a Free Printable Heart Wrap)

This one requires almost zero effort and no cooking! You have love that, right? I used a recycled pickle jar but if you don’t have one, stop by a Goodwill to pick one up. They normally have Mason jars for cheap.

Fill the jar with Hershey Hugs and Kisses. Wrap the heart printable  around the jar and tape it in place to make it pretty! You can tie a ribbon around the mouth of the jar and it really makes it look nice! (I love it!)

Other Decorating ideas:

If you are using a recycled jar, use craft paint to paint the jar. I have also covered the top of the jar with a fabric square and tied it around the mouth of the jar with the ribbon.

Valentine’s Day Dipped Wafer Cookie

Take the wafer cookies out of the packaging. Melt ½ cup of chocolate in a Pyrex measuring cup and once it has melted, gently dip the bottom third of the cookie in the melted chocolate and then stand them upright in a jar to harden.

Once the ends are dry, place the wafer cookies on a sheet of wax paper, drizzle melted chocolate across the top and allow them to harden. Once they are done drying, turn them over and drizzle the opposite size.

Other Decorating ideas:

Add sprinkles to the melted chocolate if you have some laying around.  We all love sprinkle!

Pink Chocolate Covered Popcorn

Pop ½ cup of popcorn and let it sit to cool.  

Combine ⅛ tsp of oil and 6-8 oz of white chocolate in Pyrex measuring cup.  Melt it in the microwave in 30 second increments. Stir each round to make sure you don’t burn the chocolate. Once the chocolate had completely melted, add 1-2 drops of food coloring and stir.  Keep slowly adding the food coloring until you get your desired color. A small amount goes a long way.

Mix the popcorn and the warm chocolate together with your hands in a large mixing bowl. I suggest starting with a smaller amount of the chocolate and adding more if needed. Not every kernel needs to be completely covered. This is very rich and sweet as it is.

Serve in small bags.

***Side note! I sent all of the treats to work with Jason to get a taste test and I was shocked when he came home and told me what his office’s favorite treat was…

Drum roll…

It was hands-down the Chocolate Popcorn. What?? That was the easiest of all of them. It goes to show that you never know what will resonate with everyone’s taste buds.

Feel free to spice up any dessert with a Valentine’s Day flair using Depression Era Desserts as an inspiration. Cut desserts into hearts, like we did or jazz it up with food coloring for a special treat.