Happy Valentine's Day! (What's Baking?)

Well, unless you don't own a computer, you are fully aware of all of the Valentine's Day related posts that have been bombarding the blogosphere the past few weeks.  I think I'm the only one who didn't participate in the madness (what is wrong with me?).

So, I figured I'd make up for it in two ways.  I decided to:

1- choose a non-edible item for Valentine's Day...one that has also been bombarding the internet!
2- choose a non-edible item for our What's Baking? challenge this month (hey, they had to baked!)

Like I said, unless you don't own a computer...

Bella and I baked these adorable crayons yesterday for her classmates.  Believe me - if we were allowed to give out edible treats for their party today, I would have been ALL over that.  But because a few of her classmates have severe allergies, it isn't permitted.

I don't know if it's because I'm the least creative, crafty person out there, but I had a hard time with these!  There are several reasons why...but, rather than embarrass myself by listing them, I'll give you a few tips at the end of this post that may make this project easier for you.

And by the way, these should not be considered solely for Valentine's Day...I think they'd make great birthday favors, or a rainy day project with the kiddies.  You could also make different shapes depending on the theme you're working with.

Sandra from She Cooks and Bakes challenged us this month to make special Valentine treats, with the option of using related colors.  As you can see, these crayons definitely cover that :)

Heart Shaped Crayons
as seen everywhere on Pinterest...for more pictures see Sillie Smile

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.  Soak crayons in warm water and peel off paper.  Break crayons into smaller pieces (and don't forget the crayon scraps all over the house!) and place in each muffin mold.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes.  The crayon mixture will be very jiggly when you take the pan out.  Place in a very cool area (I put it outside) and let cool and harden completely.  Pull sides of mold away from crayons and gently pop them out.

Wrap or package them however you like.

Sooo...
I used a silicone Wilton pan to make these.  The pan only has 6 hearts.  So, I had to wait for each pan to cool completely before being able to start on the next batch (and it didn't help that half of each batch broke when I was taking them out...grrr!).  So, you might want to have a few pans on hand, depending on how many you need.

In retrospect, I would have filled my molds up more (and baked them longer) so the crayons ended up being thicker.  Then maybe none of them would have broken!  They don't rise at all, so consider filling them about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way.

Lighter and brighter colors look much better than darker/duller ones.

Hope everyone enjoys their Valentine's Day!  I've got a box of chocolates my little angel bought me that I'll be diving into later :)