Valentine's Petits Fours

Last year at Valentine's I channeled my inner Bakerella and made Red Velvet Cake Cookies.  They were a huge hit and have been a huge hit multiple times between then and now.  If you haven't ever made them then please go make them for yourself today.  Consider it your Valentine's present to yourself.

This year, I'm channeling my inner MckMama and Amanda to bring you Valentine's Petits Fours.

Yes, I made these myself and yes, I'm rather proud of them.  I had never worked with Fondant before and it was surprisingly easy and, with some vanilla added in, surprisingly tasty.  I've never been a big fondant fan, actually the one thing that I said about my wedding cake was that I didn't want fondant because it always makes cakes (that I had had in the past) taste horrible.  Please excuse me if your wedding cake had fondant on it, I'm sure it tasted lovely, but apparently the bakers in my hometown don't know how to flavor it and keep it from tasting like rubber so I try to avoid it.  That being said, despite how much I've maligned the fondant name in the past, I decided to try these because they were oh so cute and I figured they would look pretty even if they didn't taste good.  I followed Amanda's instructions from MckMama's blog and I think the end result was quite satisfactory!  I didn't get all fancy with the royal icing but the next time I make them I think I will!  Here's my condensed version of the previous post (the post has pictures, etc to go with steps so hop on over there for more detail).

Valentine's Petits Fours
Makes: However many you want to make

You will need:
Oreo Cakesters (my Target had the golden cakesters and they were probably better than original but its your preference)
A box of fondant (from Hobby Lobby)
Rolling Pin (from Hobby Lobby)
Red Food coloring (the gel kind from Hobby Lobby)
Colorless Vanilla extract (from Hobby Lobby)
Cookie Cutters
Royal Icing (if you are so inclined)

Instructions:
- Take a good chunk of fondant and put a little bit of vanilla extract in it and work it in until you feel like the fondant is pretty well flavored.  My precise measuring of the vanilla extra included maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of one of Charlotte's soft tipped spoons. 
- If you are coloring it then add in some food coloring and do the same mixing that you just did before.  To make a deep red it takes a lot of food coloring but start with a little and work your way up to it.
- Break off a piece of the fondant and start rolling it out with the rolling pin.  I rolled it straight on to my granite because that's supposed to be best but if you don't have a stone countertop MckMama recommends rolling it out on wax paper.  Make sure that you bring the ends of the fondant up onto the rolling pin while you're rolling so that they won't stick to the counter making it hard to peel off.
- Once it's rolled fairly thin place the fondant on top of a cakester and use your fingers to gently press it down on the top and sides.  It really helps when you're doing this if you've see Ace of Cakes.  I felt like I was a professional from all of their episodes that I've watched.
- Once the fondant is pressed down on the sides cut around the cakester leaving a little edge.  Then pick up the cakester and using your fingers press the fondant down to seal the edges.
- Decorate as you desire.  I bought a paintbrush at Hobby Lobby and used it to paint water onto the top of the cakester and on to the back of the heart to fuse them together.