Chunky Heart Crayons

I've been wanting to try making "crayon cookies" for a long time. Now seemed like the perfect time to make these for the boys; since the bigger kids are getting Valentine's chocolates, the little kids can get these instead. They were a hassle, but kind of fun. I loved working with these gorgeous colors. First, you have to peel your crayons (which is time consuming and fiddly). I avoided the "washable" crayons, thinking they may not work, and picked out all regular crayons.
Chop them into small pieces.
Arrange them in a mini muffin tin in the color combos that you like. Bake at 150 just until melted. I baked mine a little too long (15 mins) and they were total liquid. They set up right away, though.
Here's the "fun" part--getting them out of the blasted tin! You're supposed to be able to freeze them and the "pop right out." No such luck for me. I had to run warm water over the bottom and let them drop out into the sink--not my preferred way. Oh, and for the record, the tin didn't clean up very well, either. I think it's a dedicated crayon making tin now. That's okay.
I packaged these as I did the chocolates.

So last night we did have our annual Trail of Hearts and Dieter loved it. All the kids "hide" in the bedrooms and when the trail is ready they come out and walk along it (it weaves in and out in a curvy pattern and amongst furniture) to find a basket of Valentine treats--books, these crayons, and the molded chocolates. I'm trying to keep things simple around here, thus simple gifts. Dieter loved following the trail of hearts and did so several times after the fact, then later plopped himself down on the floor amongst all the hearts to drink a bottle. So cute and such pure childlike pleasure.