M&M’s Red Velvet Valentine’s Day Parfaits

This shop to make M&M’s® Red Velvet Valentine’s Day Parfaits has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RedVelvetLove #CollectiveBias

Our kids are getting older. Why must they get older?! With age comes excitement over holidays and these kids have been asking about Valentine’s Day well before Christmas. I’m not sure what has grasped their interest about this particular holiday, but they have been begging to do something special. It’s the holiday of love and I love these kids, so how could I say no.

In our family we like to create family traditions for the holidays. Valentine’s Day is one holiday we haven’t done too much with other than exchange some candy and maybe a small gift. Since the kids want more, it’s time to make some memories. We decided to do it with a breakfast, or treat, recipe using M&M’s® Red Velvet.

I told the kids we were going to make breakfast parfaits! As always, I told them this with great enthusiasm. I was met with blank stares. Really? I thought this was exciting news. I gave them a then puzzled expression.

My daughter was quick to figure out the problem. “What are parfaits, mom.”

In the six years of her life how could I have not introduced her to a parfait! I explained the deliciousness of the layers. Since it was a breakfast parfait, we’d use berries, yogurt and granola. Because it’s a special occasion we’d add in something a little sweet for the sweets, such as the M&M’s® Red Velvet and some homemade whipped cream.

There it was, now I had their excitement. The creation of our first Valentine’s Day tradition was well under way. Time to go shopping at Walmart to create a test run of this recipe. We picked up everything we needed in the grocery aisle, then stopped by the holiday aisle to grab the M&M’s® Red Velvet.

We wanted everything to be perfect for Valentine’s Day so obviously we needed to try out this recipe ahead of time. Right? Right.

I went to work getting everything ready for the parfaits. The berries each got their own bowl; we used raspberries and strawberries. Our favorite granola found a home in a little bowl. Then I made some homemade whipped cream. It’s easy, just put a small carton of whipping cream in a stand mixer, add a bit of sugar to taste, then a dash of vanilla (sorry, I don’t measure this one out), then whip it on high with the whisk attachment until it’s the consistency you want. Don’t leave it, it whips up fast!

Time to get the M&M’s® Red Velvet ready.  For this recipe I needed both whole M&M’s® Red Velvet and crushed. 

Here’s the whole M&M’s® Red Velvet.

Then to crush them, I just added a handful or two to a resealable baggie and used the smooth side of my meat tenderizer to whack them until they were crushed the way I wanted them.

Now all of the ingredients were ready. I grabbed three tall glasses to use to build the parfaits. I think clear is always the way to go with parfaits so you can see the beauty of the layers.

An unintended coincidence was that the strawberries, raspberries and whipped cream matched the M&M’s® Red Velvet colors exactly! I was proud of that unintentional Valentine’s Day color surprise. 

We’re almost to the best part of the parfaits, eating them! But, first we need to assemble them. If the kids are old enough you can let them build their own parfaits. I like to go with some berries, granola, yogurt then M&M’s® Red Velvet, but you build it the way it works for you.

Look at these beautiful layers!

We topped them off with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of the crushed M&M’s® Red Velvet. 

We did an excellent job. They turned out fantastic and for our family, absolutely represented Valentine’s Day, from the colors, to the sweetness and the flavor. Speaking of flavor, if you’re using raspberries, go easy on them. They get pretty dang tart! I puckered quite a bit and the girls thought it was hysterical.

I can’t get over how pretty they are. Here’s another shot of them.

I was not the only one pleased with this Valentine’s Day breakfast masterpiece. Look at this pleased customer.

This will be our Valentine’s Day breakfast. We still need to plan the rest of the day, but at least we have one new tradition well under way! I don’t know if we’ll have this every Valentine’s Day or if we’ll just find a fun, delicious recipe to make together each year. I’m not worried; we have an entire year to hash out the details.

M&M’s® Red Velvet Valentine’s Day Parfaits

Ingredients

• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• 1 package M&M’s® Red Velvet
• Whipped cream (homemade or store bought, your choice)
• Your favorite granola
• Vanilla, Strawberry or Raspberry yogurt

Instructions

1. Crush a handful of the M&M’s® Red Velvet in a sealed plastic bag using a rolling pin, hammer or the smooth side of a meat tenderizer.
2. Layer berries, granola, yogurt and whole M&M’s® Red Velvet in a tall, narrow glass.
3. Top with whipped cream and crushed M&M’s® Red Velvet
4. Enjoy!

See more great M&M’s® Red Velvet recipe and party ideas at myconfectioncorner.com/valentines-day where you can also download a coupon to save on your M&M’s® purchase.

Do you have any Valentine’s Day traditions? I shared one we’re creating this year and I’d love to hear some of your ideas in the comments!