Valentines Day on a Budget

Right after Christmas coming up with an elaborate Valentines celebration was more than the budget had room for. There was money for school Valentine cards and that was pretty much it.  With a tiny bit of ingenuity its pretty easy to celebrate Valentines on a very strict budget.  When in doubt bake or make something in a heart shape.

Welsh cakes aren’t served in Canada very often. I was the only person I knew who made them. My boys love them. For example, I made a batch of 24 at 10 pm and covered it with a towel. The next morning this is all I had left, my youngest son chomped his way through the rest. I love when that happens.

Welsh Cakes Recipe

In a large bowl put in the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. Mix really well.

Add the butter and cut in until crumbly (smaller than pea-sized bits). Add the currants. Make a well in the center.

Beat the egg and milk together. Pour into the well. Mix together like you would biscuit dough.

Preheat a heavy frying over medium heat.

In the meantime quickly roll out your dough on a floured surface until 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. You can remix the scraps and repeat to use up all the dough.

Melt a tsp of butter in the frying pan and add your welsh cakes. Brown them for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Roll in sugar while still hot. This recipe will make about two dozen small cakes.

Note: Most welsh cake recipes say to fry the dough in hot lard, I dislike doing it that way. I don’t like the lard taste and if you do them in butter on high heat they tend to burn before the center is cooked.
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Serve the welsh cakes with tea, coffee, jam, or butter.  Put out the nice dishes with napkins and have a tea party.

Some Other Simple Ideas

Do you have a food that isn’t often allowed in your house?  In our home, I wouldn’t make deep fried food, wasn’t happening.  As a treat for one Valentines, I made them all you can eat french fries and served the ketchup on a separate plate in a big heart shape.

There are heart-shaped waffles, pancakes, cut out sandwiches, homemade pizza (a big favorite).  Heart shaped cake made with one square and one round cake cut in half.

Any treat given with love pretty much fits the occasion.  My boys knew our reality, so they didn’t mind as long as they had valentines gifts to take to school.