Welcome, February!! ...It's Bake for Family Fun Month

The first month of the year is over and I am welcoming February with a happy grin. February always invites me to imagine spring. Days are getting a little longer and, Chuckie, the Long Island groundhog, predicted this morning that in fact, spring is just around the corner. He did not see his shadow... Yaay!!

But, there is a lot more to February. As it turns out, it is a really busy month for family fun, starting with this Groundhog-Super Bowl weekend, Valentine's Day in the middle, President's Day a few days later and, even Oscar's night, closer to the end... All good stuff!!

To top it up, February is also "Bake for Family Fun" month. A celebration that I didn't know of, but thanks to my new Mom's Weekly Planner, I got to discover it and adopt it as a cool family celebration. I like baking, it can be something very simple, a pizza, a pasta, a cookie, or something elaborated with great level of difficulty, like a french pastry or a souffle.

In any case, the good thing about this month's celebration is that baking is a great excuse to spend family time together, have the kids learn how to measure, read recipes, and make something new, while talking, joking, and having fun. There is also a fascinating aspect about baking for little ones- the surprise factor, the not knowing if things will come out right or really wrong, until the baked subject is pulled out of the oven.

I got curious and researched a little bit about this month's celebration... I found this great website by the Home Baking Association, which has prepared a whole schedule for the month with all kind of recipes to turn February into a fun month loaded with yummy preparations. Week by week, the HBA's website delivers different projects adapted to kids of different ages, from cookies and cakes to pizza and bread.

Sounds good, so far? Well, I also decided to mix my love for chocolate with February's Bake for Family Fun celebrations, and put together the pictures and links to the recipes that I'd like to try right now. Winter always elevates my cravings for chocolate, I guess it has something to do with the need for more calories to keep my body warm... I don't know, but those perfectly round chocolate truffles, or the chocolate cookies with coffee ice cream look very tempting... Don't they??

Not to twist your arm, but in case you feel as tempted as I am, here you have the links to the recipes... Have fun and happy February, everyone!!

1:: Bailey's Chocolate Truffles by Eva Toneva, available here. (Use translator for recipe)

2:: Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce by Easy Eats, available here. 

3:: Turtles Cupcakes by Annie's Eats, available here. 

4:: How to make Chocolate Bars? by David Lebovitz, available here.

5:: Chocolate Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches by Heather Cristo, available here.