Oh Be Mine, Valentine!

The February 1993 issue of Bon Appetit magazine (to which I lovingly subscribed for many years) featured a recipe for Valentine Lollipops. I was instantly smitten. In addition to white and bittersweet chocolate, the recipe included four other “ingredients:” plastic lollipop molds, lollipop sticks, cellophane bags, and ribbon. A note at the end of the recipe said the special items were available from a shop in California, Jane's Cakes and Chocolates. In those pre-internet days, I called Jane’s on the telephone the very next day, from my desk at work, and ordered them – except, maybe, for the ribbon. I think I bought that here in Durham.

At the time our children were 4 and 5 1/2, the perfect ages, I thought, for participating in chocolate lolly-making. And they were easy to make, really just melt the chocolate and spoon it into the molds, and they looked so darn cute once you slipped them into those little bags and tied them with ribbon. I can't remember how many we made that first year or who we gave them to, but making Valentine’s lollipops became an annual ritual. I ordered additional molds so we could make batches of 16 pops at a clip. And at some point we started making enough so that on Valentine's Day evening my daughter and I could drive around Durham delivering them to friends -- what fun that was! We did this for many years, but the children grew up and the molds and whatever sticks, bags, and ribbon were left over were stored in the basement, where they sat for years, unused.

 As Valentine's Day approached this year, with our grandsons JB, Vinny, and Danny 4 1/2, 4 1/2, and 2 1/2, I had a yearning for the old tradition and thought it would be fun to resurrect it. I told JB about it recently and asked if he was interested in making some and unsurprisingly got a resounding yes! I refreshed my supply of sticks and bags and bought some white and dark chocolate. (Jane's had closed its California location in 2021 after 41 years and moved to Tennessee, reopening as Jane's Cakes and Baking Supply, but it didn't appear that the new store does mail order, so I resorted to Amazon.) But most wonderfully, before I had a chance to share my plans with my daughter, she told me that she had such happy memories of making the chocolate lollipops together and wondered if I might start doing it with her boys this year. Great minds think alike, I told her. I already have everything ready to roll!

 My plan was to make them this past weekend with all three boys since Vinny was coming to visit, but unfortunately he had a cold and the special overnight was postponed. Still, today, two days before Valentine’s Day 2024, with JB and Danny and daughter Dino, husband Dan looking on, those cute plastic molds I got back in 1993 were once again eagerly filled with melted chocolate by little hands. There was no fussing with toothpicks to make perfect black and white swirls, especially since we had a two-year-old in the mix, but that did not matter. They were engaged and happy, but not as happy as I was to see this sweet tradition revived. And Vinny will come over soon, and a few days after the 14^th should be fine to make these tokens of affection, because, well, it’s never too late for a little love now, is it?