STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — In the classic children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie,” Laura Numeroff offers a pretty hilarious take on the consequences of serving up a sweet treat. Give a mouse a cookie and he’ll want some milk. And then a straw. And a napkin. Eventually, another cookie.
Apparently, if you give Staten Island a rainbow-pignoli cookie, it will go viral and inspire some national buzz.
Kristin and Ernesto Guzzo, owners of Belli Baci Bakery in Tottenville, know this scenario a little too well: After adding a hybrid rainbow-pignoli cookie to their bakery cases this spring, Staten Islanders went wild, snapping up the sharable delight in rapid fashion. Cue the influencers and the lines, a couple of black-market resales and dozens of imitators. Who knew that blending two of the world’s most popular Italian cookies would cause such a viral stir?
“We’re finally starting to breathe a little…it’s been a wild ride,” said Kristin Guzzo on Wednesday. She and her husband chatted with the Advance/SILive early Wednesday morning on speakerphone — a rare, quiet moment before their now-famous bakery comes to life…