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As we approach the month of February, Valentine’s Day has definitely been on the brain in our household! It’s easy to throw Valentine’s Day into the “commercial holiday” category, but I think it’s wonderful to have a whole day dedicated to celebrating love! In fact, I unapologetically start decking our halls with sparkly reds, pinks and all things heart-shaped as soon as the Christmas decorations come down. 

I have very fond memories of Valentine’s Day growing up, and perhaps that is why I hold on to this holiday so dearly. In elementary school, I remember my teachers having Valentine’s Day parties for the classroom. We’d decorate shoe boxes with heart shaped stickers and each bring a boxed set of Valentine’s cards and homemade cookies and desserts to share with one another. It was always fun receiving cartoon character Valentines from friends, but perhaps the best part of each party was when the teacher would lay out a paper towel on our desks and serve the refreshments. My eyes would swell with excitement when she placed those cookies on my desk and filled my cup with ice cold milk!

So it really comes as no surprise to me that I get such an urge to celebrate Valentine’s Day by baking cookies and drinking milk with my oldest daughter. I can only hope that she grows to associate the holiday with spending precious moments in the kitchen with her mom, making cookies for friends and sipping on milk to wash it all down with. She gets her love for whole milk very honestly, might I add. Milk was my biggest pregnancy craving during both of my pregnancies, and I love that it gives kids nutrients they need to grow strong! Each 8 oz serving of milk is a great source of 3 important nutrients in a child’s diet: calcium, vitamin D and potassium. It’s also a natural source of high-quality protein, so we make sure to include a full serving of milk a day so we can grow big and strong!

Have you ever stopped to think about how many of your memories are connected to a cold glass of milk before? For me, it seems like milk always has a way of creeping into some of my very favorite moments in life. In fact, a new artificial intelligence-fueled image recognition study found that milk was one of the most shared foods on Instagram, concluding that 1 out of every 4 posts included milk! We are certainly not alone in our love for milk, and what better way to enjoy a glass of milk than with freshly baked cookies?

I’ve been holding onto my chocolate chip cookie recipe for quite some time, but sometimes I like to do things to revamp it a bit to make it extra fun for my daughter and her friends. Transforming traditional chocolate chip cookies into chocolate chip cookie pops is something I’ve always wanted to try, and after a few test rounds I finally perfected a way to make them perfectly delicious AND able to stand up to dunking in a cold glass of milk without falling apart!

I headed out to my local Walmart to pick up a few things I needed to make our cookie pops, and my first stop was to stock up on a few gallons of milk. We go through milk like crazy in our house, so the milk cases are always our first stop when grocery shopping! I also stocked up on cookie making essentials, such as butter, flour, sugar, chocolate chips and sprinkles.

Here’s a free printable copy of how to whip up these fun little cookie pops!

Instead of opting for traditional cookie icing, I wanted these cookie pops to be able to withstand little hands dunking them in a glass of milk. Baking the lollipop sticks into the cookie didn’t provide enough support to be able to hold the weight of the cookie, so I chose to use almond bark to hold the stick in place. This makes these cookie pops perfect for dunking in 8 oz of milk (and the extra chocolate in the center makes these cookies even yummier!) We had a little bit of almond bark left over, so we scooped it into a zipper bag and trimmed the end off to make a makeshift piping bag. I let my toddler draw designs on the cookies and add sprinkles. This make the cookie baking process extra fun!

Sweepstakes Alert:

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Post a photo on Instagram showcasing your “Love What’s Real” milk moment, making sure to add in the hashtags #LoveWhatsReal and #Sweepstakes. Don’t forget to make sure your image includes milk! No purchase necessary. Sweepstakes ends on 2/28/19. Click here for official rules.

What special moments or memories do you have that connect you to enjoying a cold glass of milk? Do you love to dunk your chocolate chip cookies in milk just like we do? Will you be baking homemade sweets and treats to enjoy with your Valentine this year? Leave a comment below and share the love!