Happy Valentine’s Day Weekend! Even though I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, I do love sweets and the color pink. And there’s no better time of year to make pink treats than February. So I made easy Valentine dessert cups. Pink, hearts, and whipped cream – the combined results are stinking adorable for V-Day. And this treat is cute for kids but also elegant enough to share with your significant other or fancy friends.
This recipe only requires a few ingredients and nothing unusual. There’s plenty of time to whip these up for Sunday’s lovefest.
Here’s what you’ll need:
1 vanilla instant pudding mix (3.4 ounces)
2 cups milk
2 8-ounce containers frozen whipped topping, thawed (Cool Whip)
Red food coloring
Red candy melts
First, prepare the pudding with the milk according to the package directions. Then fold in one container of the thawed whipped topping. Add a few drops of red food coloring until the mixture is your desired shade of pink. Set aside the pudding/whipped topping mixture in the fridge.
While the pudding mixture is chilling, decorate the serving cups with hearts. I like to use clear glass cups, but clear plastic cups work too.
Melt about a dozen red candy melts in the microwave in a plastic Ziploc bag. It usually takes about 45 to 60 seconds for them to melt. Once they are melted and smooth, snip a tiny corner off the bag to create a “piping bag.” You can reheat the candy melts in the microwave as needed to keep them melted.
Now time to make the hearts on the cups! This isn’t too hard but if you feel like hearts are intimidating, try polka dots instead. They are super easy and look just as cute.
The easiest way to make the hearts is to squeeze out two dots of the melted red candy melts, with the dot circles right next to each other. Then using a knife, toothpick, or skewer stick, “pull down” the candy melt dots to create a bottom point for the heart. You can practice doing this on wax paper first, before decorating the glasses or plastic cups. If you’re really good with a piping bag and writing with chocolate, you can also try doing this completely freehand without a skewer, knife or stick. After decorating a glass with hearts, pop it in the fridge to set for a couple minutes. Then fill it up with the pink pudding mixture! And I think it’s essential to top it with more thawed whipped topping, makes it much fancier.
They almost look too cute to eat, don’t they? Except not really. 😉 I have no problem eating one (or three).
And here’s the polka dot version – still so cute, right? This idea could totally work for other holidays or for parties with color themes too. For example, mint green pudding mixture with bright green dots for St. Patrick’s Day.
Hope you all have a Valentine’s Day filled with love and sweet treats!
