Homeschooling the Teen Years - Sweet Treats and Sappy Stories

With Valentine's Day coming up this week, I thought it would be a good time to add a touch of sugar and sap to our day.  So, I gave the girls a recipe for easy Valentine's Day Patties from Mom on Timeout to try, while I finished listening to The Crown, the last book in The Selection Series, by Kiera Case (the series showed up in my online library "suggested reading" list, and it was available for checkout - so what could I do?)

The dough for the patties, which consisted of powdered sugar, corn syrup, butter, and strawberry extract(the link for the recipe is above) was pleasing to work with, sort of like the feel of a marshmallow fondant, or maybe the Kool-Aid candy clay we made several years ago...

… though honestly, I'd have to try that recipe again to remember for sure, and since I said then that that candy tasted like Skittles - I might have to try it again anyway.  But regardless, the patty dough was not sticky at all, and rolled nicely into balls, which when rolled in granulated sugar could be pressed down with a fork...

… and then easily pinched and pulled into little heart shapes, all ready for Valentine's Day.

They need 24 hours to dry, but naturally, we tasted a few right away.  They look good, but they are very sweet - not surprising given the four cups of powdered sugar plus corn syrup in the recipe...

… which was pretty much how we felt about The Selection Series - too sappy for our taste, but about what you'd expect from a series billed as a "dystopian romance"(again, it was in the library list, what could I do?).  I had been planning on giving the series a quick review here, and leaving it at that, but there was just enough of interest in the books, keeping in mind what they are and the audience (13-14 year old girls) they are aimed at, to merit a complete review, tomorrow.

It's great to be a homeschooler.