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Last year, we tested out three pinterest-popular Valentine’s Day craft ideas. This year, we’re back, testing out toddler-friendly and vegan Valentine’s baking ideas from, you guessed in, pinterest.
![3 toddler-friendly ideas for vegan valentine's baking](https://modernghosts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ACS_0117-1440x960.jpg)
Like so many others out there, I’m a bit pinterest-mad, and there’s nothing like a holiday/occasion board! I have a valentine’s day board that I’ve been pinning to for years, and it’s SO easy to just keep cataloguing ideas and not ever trying any of them in real life. Last year I decided that this wasn’t a useful way to spend our time, and so we’ve been making an active effort to try a handful of ideas for every possible occasion.
Since I had a day off on Friday, we had a go at some vegan valentine’s baking ideas. I chose a few that looked easy enough so that Isla could help, and we tested them for both taste and toddler-friendliness!
1. Pink Meringue Kisses
![Rhubarb Meringue Kisses - Vegan Valentine's Baking](https://modernghosts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ACS_0119-1440x960.jpg)
Ever since the dawn of aquafaba, making vegan meringues has been pretty low-effort. I saw this inspiration for pink meringue kisses, and just knew we’d have to include these! Since the recipe in question is a traditional, non-vegan one, I went with my usual meringue recipe and made it valentine’s friendly! While aquafaba meringue is a bit fragile and I’ve heard of some recipe fails when using colours and flavours, I’ve never experienced any issues. In this recipe, I used Foodie Flavours Rhubarb flavouring* as well as Sugarflair Food Colouring Paste* in Claret, and they worked perfectly.
This is quite possibly one of the easiest recipes to make with kids – they can help chuck everything in the mixer, and, with a bit of help, they can do the piping, too!
Vegan Rhubarb Meringue Kisses
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup aquafaba
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1 pinch cream of tartar
- 4 drops rhubarb flavouring
- 1/16 tsp pink food colouring
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 100ºC and line a tray with baking paper.
- In a stand mixer, whisk the aquafaba and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form – this takes about 10 minutes.
- With the mixer on medium speed, add the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon.
- Once the sugar is completely incorporated, add in the food colouring and flavouring and mix until completely smooth and uniform in colour.
- Add mixture to a piping bag with a large round nozzle and pipe kisses onto the baking sheet. This works best if you hold the nozzle about 3/4 of an inch above the sheet.
- Bake for an hour. These absorb moisture from the air really easily, so they’re best served fresh!
2. Chocolate Peanut Butter Hearts
![Peanut Butter Hearts - vegan valentine's baking](https://modernghosts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ACS_0118-1440x960.jpg)
There’s literally nothing better than chocolate and peanut butter in my opinion! After seeing this inspiration, I just had to try a seasonal version of everyone’s favourite US candy. It wasn’t hard to veganise, all we had to do was swap the butter for margarine, but I did really struggle with the chocolate coating. That’s why they kind of look a mess in the photo :D. Apart from that final step, these were quite easy to make. Again, there’s lots of throwing things in the mixer, rolling out dough, and cutting out shapes involved, so it’s a really family-friendly activity!
3. Heart Slice-and-Bake Cookies
![Slice-and-bake cookies - vegan valentine's baking](https://modernghosts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ACS_0120-1440x960.jpg)
Our final vegan valentine’s baking project was the famous slice-and-bake cookie. We used this as inspiration, but opted for an Oh She Glows Sugar Cookie recipe to add at least SOME nutritional value into this afternoon. Using a more conventional cookie recipe might have made this look a bit better, but overall I’m actually quite pleased with how they turned out. I thought the whole thing was going to be a mess, but it was quite straight forward! In fact, I think this might have been our favourite of the three, and now I’m planning to make an easter-egg version in April!
Are you doing any vegan valentine’s baking this month? If so, please do share your plans in the comments!
![Valentine's Day | 3 Toddler-Friendly Valentine's Baking Ideas | movingscouse.co.uk](https://modernghosts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Valentines-Day-Baking.png)