These cookies are so fun and colorful! I am a big fan of slice and bake cookies for a Christmas cookies gift box. They’re easy to make into small shapes, therefore they fit nicely into gift boxes.
This recipe is from Sally’s Baking Addiction, but I made a few minor changes. I cut the cookies into smaller and thinner pieces. I end up baking them for less time as well. Sometimes I coated the egg in the remaining egg white, sometimes I just used it for something else. You can also dip a corner in melted chocolate. If you do, make sure you use baking chocolate, not chips! The chips will not melt well and the texture will be gummy, making it hard to get a smooth chocolate coating after it cools. Chips contain stabilizers that prevent them from melting smoothly.
I’m always a fan of food that looks a lot more complicated to make than it really was. Enjoy!
Neapolitan Cookies
Ingredients
Base Cookie Dough
- 2 1/2 cups (325 g) all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar,
- 1 large egg + 1 divided egg, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Strawberry Dough
- 1 1/2 tbs all purpose flour
- 1 tbs strawberry jam
- 1/2 tsp almond extract, optional
- pink food coloring*
Chocolate Dough
- 1 1/2 tbs cocoa powder
- 1 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled*
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Switch mixture to high speed and add the 1 egg, 1 egg yolk (save the egg white for later), and vanilla.
- Switch the mixture to low speed and add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Add another 1/3 and mix again. Add the final 1/3 and mix until the dough just start coming together (it will appear crumbly at first).
- Separate the dough into 3 portions. Your vanilla portion is done. If you want to be really precise, I weigh the dough. I measure the vanilla dough to 35% of the mixture, then the other 2 portions to 32%. If math isn’t your thing you can just split them all into thirds.
- Take one of the portions. This will be your strawberry dough. Add the flour, jam, and almond extract. When it’s just starting to come together, add the food coloring until you’ve reached your desired shade of pink.* Mix until just combined.
- Take your last portion. This will be your chocolate dough. Add the cocoa powder and melted chocolate. Mix until just combined.
- Line a 9″ loaf pan with parchment paper. Make sure the parchment paper has an overhang so you can pull it out later.
- Press the strawberry dough into the bottom of the pan in a nice even layer. Then press the vanilla dough over the strawberry. Then finally press the chocolate dough over the vanilla dough. Place in the fridge and chill for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Remove the dough from the loaf pan. Slice lengthwise into 3 pieces. Then cut each log into 1/4" thick pieces.
- Dip each cookie into reserved egg white if desired. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookie has set. If you prefer a crunchier cookie, bake for a minute or two more.
- Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
