I made speculaas cookies for the first time this Valentine’s Day and I wanted to share them with y’all! Aren’t they pretty?

I ordered a springerle mold from Switzerland to press the cookies. It’s a new resin mold which was made from an antique hand carved wooden one.

For this spiced cookie recipe, I used high butter fat cultured European butter, fresh orange peel, crushed star anise, cinnamon, ground black pepper and grated nutmeg.

They were delicious! Even Jack, our three year old, liked them. 🙂

I ordered a couple of pretty Easter molds too. I think I’ll try a different recipe when the time comes – maybe some sort of lemon shortbread.

When we were snowed in a couple weeks ago, the boys and I made a few Valentine’s to mail to grandparents and great-grandparents across the country. George’s little pudgy hands look so small next to Jack’s. 🙂

Jack had a Valentine’s party last Friday with a few friends at the skate palace. This was his first time on wheels and he did pretty good! Blaine was there to help him.

For our little Valentine’s dinner tonight, Jack helped set the table. 🙂 We had heart shaped cheese ravioli with a pink alfredo sauce, cheese sticks, and broccoli florets! It was still light out (~5pm dinner) but we still lit candles and the boys got a kick out of that.

We followed dinner with a warm bubble bath for the boys, milk, and then off to bed! These days are long but I’m seeing that the years are short! Blaine and I are trying to soak it all in.

~Mir