Chocolate Almond Flies Inspired by “The Valentine Bears”

“The Valentine Bears” by Eve Bunting and Jan Brett

This is the sweetest little Valentine’s Day book! It is the story of Mrs Bear and Mr Bear have never celebrated Valentine’s Day together because of their hibernation.  However, Mrs Bear is determined that this Valentine’s Day will be different.  She wakes up in February to get a little Valentine’s Day celebration ready for Mr. Bear and gets a little surprise of her own when she is ready and wakes him up to join in on the fun.

Jan Brett’s illustrations in this story have a cozy and timeless feel to them that add to the prevailing sweetness of this story! It’s one that you will want to read over and over again every year and is sure to stand the test of time.

Click here to purchase “The Valentine Bears” *affiliate link

Chocolate Almond Flies

In the story, part of Mrs Bear’s preparations for their celebration is food. (Of course! What celebration doesn’t have good food?!) The two treats she saved for Valentine’s day are a jar of honey and some crispy, crunchy bugs. When she wakes up Mr. Bear she discovers that he has a valentine for her too! He has picked out chocolate covered ants for her and she is thrilled!

My kids and I found these “bug snacks” so endearing and I was inspired to create some “bug snacks” as our own to pair with the story. I am ridiculously pleased with these adorable little flies that we made and am so excited to share them with you!

Suplies/Ingredients:

• chocolate covered almonds (I got ours at our local grocery store and opted for “bulk bin” ones instead of bagged because they looked bigger. You want the largest ones you can find so you have room for eyes and wings.)
• sliced almonds (I bought these pre-sliced at our grocery store. They are usually pretty easy to find in the baking aisle.
• candy eyes (I used these Wilton brand ones.)
• baking/melting chocolate (This acts as the “glue” to assemble everything.)
• Tool: I used a piping bag to pipe on the melted chocolate “glue” while assembling. You can also use the cut-off corner of a ziplock bag.

Process:

• Melt the chocolate per the instructions on the packaging and scoop into your piping bag. Cut off the tip of your bag so you can pipe, you don’t want the opening to be large because the chocolate should flow out easily.
• Using you piping bag, pipe out a layer of chocolate on the top of a chocolate covered almond (make sure you have enough to work as a good adhesive). Then, quickly before it dries, press two almond slivers for wings not the bottom section of the melted chocolate and two candy eyes on the top. Place on a wire cooling rack to dry. (The wire cooling rack keeps them upright while they dry.)
• Allow to fully cool so the chocolate can harden and hold everything together. Handle carefully, even when cooled, the wings will be fragile.
• Tip: I kind of like how the completed flies topple over in different directions when done, but if you want them to stand upright easily you can slice-off/level the bottoms of the chocolate covered almonds before assembly.
• Tip: Assemble each fly one at a time because melting chocolate can cool quickly.

These flies take just minutes to assemble and they look so darn cute when they are done. My kid’s faces lit up when they saw them and they were so excited to eat them. Have you noticed that here is just something about the thought of “eating bugs” that kids get a kick out of or is it just mine?

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