My Heart Belongs To U: Neapolitan Milk & Chocolate Sugar Cookies

I hope you are having a great Saturday! So far, I've had a great day. I was able to drive into the city (Toronto) this morning (all alone!) for a much-needed trip to the hair salon, a leisurely shop at the most fabulous gourmet grocer, Pusateri's, and, naturally, a quick stop to Starbucks for my drive home. I hope you're also having a fabulous weekend, and that you're able to fill it full of love-y treats and projects. If you read my last post, you'll remember that I just can't get enough of the Valentine's Day treats this year (and just love-inspired sweets all-around). I really wanted to get one more love-themed treat in before the weekend was over, so although this will be a short & sweet post, I'm so happy I was able to share these cookies with you. You know what else I can't get enough of? Neapolitan! Strawberry, Chocolate & Vanilla--is there anything better? It makes me so happy with its fun colours and flavours combined; it really is the perfect trio.

Here's the photo that was a big part of the inspiration for this Neapolitan Milk & Chocolate Sugar Cookie collection, from the Real Simple website. Don't you just love these little milk bottles? I also love the little plate the bottles are on, because I have & adore the silk pillow and pencil case from this amazing collection from thomaspaul. Adorable. I also used my own Neapolitan 5-Layer Birthday Cake as inspiration, because I thought it really needed some matching cookies!

These really are fun to make--they're kind of like little fondant puzzles, and I would say that in the grand scheme of confection design, they're pretty quick and easy! As you've probably noticed, I love using fondant for cookie decorating. I personally love the sweet vanilla taste of Satin Ice brand fondant, the beautiful texture, and lovely porcelain finish it creates for my cookies. Since I love not just the visual appeal of Neapolitan, but also the flavours, I couldn't resist using the corresponding flavours for each cookie. I used a dark chocolate fondant for the chocolate bar and chocolate milk bottles; I flavoured the "strawberry" milk bottle/hearts fondant with LorAnn's strawberry flavour oil (I haven't done this before, and it is SO yummy!); and, of course, I used the vanilla fondant for the vanilla milk bottles/hearts.

If you would like to make these cookies, here is the how-to:

Neapolitan Milk & Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Milk Bottles:

1. Cut out/bake/cool milk bottle sugar cookies  (or the cookies of your choice).

2. Dye white fondant strawberry pink (try a few drops of Sweetapolita Bright Pink) and add a few drops (to taste) of LorAnn Strawberry Oil.

3. Roll pink, white, and chocolate fondant about 1/8" thick, cut out milk bottle shape using cookie cutter, and cut out heart/hearts using small heart cutter.

4. Spread very thin layer of royal icing on cooled cookie and gently place fondant shape on cookie.

5. You will use the cut out chocolate bar heart to fill in your "puzzle" milk bottle heart (confused yet?).

Chocolate Bars:

1. Cut out/bake/cool rectangular sugar cookies (or the cookies of your choice).

2. Roll chocolate fondant (I use Satin Ice dark chocolate fondant and mix 50/50 with white fondant for milk chocolate colour) 1/8" thick.

3. Using ruler edge, create a bar grid. Then, using same ruler, create diagonal lines across entire bar.

4. Cut out heart using same small heart cutter from bottles and place inside the missing heart in milk bottles.

5. Roll, cut, and insert a pink heart into the missing heart on chocolate bar.

6. Cut out an "I" and "U" using small letter fondant cutters and fill in with white fondant.

7. Spread a small amount of royal icing on cookie, and gently place the fondant on top.

8. If you're feeling creative, you can always place a few sprinkles here and there - just add a small dot of your favourite royal icing and sprinkle to your heart;'s content!

This may sound confusing, but it's so simple. Like I mentioned, it's just like a fondant cookie love puzzle! Although they do make for ideal Valentine's Cookies, I think they would also be gorgeous for wedding showers, weddings, birthday parties, and pretty much any celebration. Love seems to be the perfect theme for any party. Don't you think?

I want to wish you all an amazing Valentine's Day filled with love & cookies!

Good luck & enjoy!