Valentines Day is notorious for being about the chocolates and candy!  And, to be frank, we’re not all the way opposed to that. Heck, I’m hoping my husband brings me some real chocolates on Thursday(or caramel- my first love).  However, turning your kids focus to heart healthy activities and delicious healthy treats is a great way to show them you love them!

I first saw this recipe on a blog post by Dr. Fuhrman’s daughter, Talia. She called them Chocolate Goji Berry Stars! So, we took her idea, and had a little Valentines  fun with them. These chocolates are the epitome of heart healthy, as they are made with only:

• Walnuts:The Vitamin E, specifically the form found in walnuts, have been shown to have significant heart protection.  Further studies are showing walnuts are also protective from metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and other cardiovascular problems (source).
• Cocoa: Flavonoids in cocoa can help with cardiovascular health, aid in digestion, reduce tendency to form blood clots, and generally improves blood vessel function.
• and Dates! High in fiber, dates, help keep cholesterol levels normal!

So, let’s eat some walnuts, cocoa and dates for our hearts, shall we?

We first gathered the ingredients:

We gathered the ingredients: Walnuts, cocoa, dates, and dried fruit to decorate with.	Then, we took the walnuts and ground them up in a blender.  Then, we added the powdered walnuts to a bowl, with the soft, medjool dates.
Then, using our fingers, we mixed the two together until it was all incorporated.  We added the cocoa last.	Then, using our favorite mini cookie cutters (metal fondant cutters or clay cutters found at craft stores), we pressed our dough into the heart shapes.

Now, we did find some dried goji berries, but they were super expensive.  So, we got a small single serving bag of freeze dried strawberries.  These were perfect!!  We shaved a bit of the freeze dried strawberry off with just our fingers, and got a pretty red powder to decorate our chocolates.

Then, we decorated our chocolates with both the goji berries and the freeze dried strawberries.

These are delicious if your family likes dark chocolate.  My family is more used to sweeter chocolate, so my husband had the idea to add peanut butter!  These were our favorite!

Then, we got crazy, and decided to make an assorted “box” of chocolates:

We added coconut and granola to the other ones!

The final recipe is below!  Happy Valentines Day! Do you have any fun and healthy valentines traditions?