How to Turn Candy Bars into Handmade Valentine’s Treats

Wait a minute. Are those Snickers, Starburst, and Airheads? Well, Valentine's Day has us experimenting with all kinds of sweetness, and a walk down memory lane via the grocery store candy aisle inspired today's heartwarming hack. The truth is, sometimes good old chocolate bars and fruity candies are simply better than the fancy stuff.

Materials:

– candy bars (we went with Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and Hershey's Cookies n' Creme Bar)

– Starburst

– Airheads

– a sharp knife

– rolling pin (even better if you have a mini one!)

– aspic mini cookie cutters

– clear gift bags

– string

First up, gather your materials. As you can see, we truly behaved like kids in a candy store. The best part about this DIY is that all of the candy we used is available at any grocery store or bodega.

Cut up your chocolate bars into smaller truffle-sized pieces.

Now, unwrap your Airheads (ours are striped!) and Starbursts and start rolling. Airheads are already pretty flat, so you'll just need to roll a little to make the cookie cutter fit. For Starburst, you'll have to work a little harder.

Since you'll be doing a lot of cookie cutter pressing, we recommend using a folded up kitchen towel to press into the metal cutter.

You can decorate your hearts using sprinkles or even a gourmet food pen, and then press onto each chocolate. *If you use sprinkles, press them into the Airhead or Starburst before using the cookie cutter.

We ended up with four varieties, all super colorful and festive for Valentine's Day.

Next, it's time to wrap your candies.

Using clear gift bags and baker's twine, you can simply bundle up chocolates individually, or in bunches. To keep things more linear, you can simply fold the clear plastic over your chocolate and tape on the back. And for some extra flare, attach cut our felt hearts.

And there you have it, an easy way to personalize each and every chocolate morsel you give out this year. These are great if your Valentine has a favorite candy bar from when they were a kid (yes, we all miss trick-or-treating) or if you're throwing a party for the dessert spread.

How will you customize some sweetness for Valentine's Day this year? Send ideas our way by leaving a note in the comments below or finding us on Twitter. We'd love to try out your hacks.