Italian Rainbow Cookie Recipe
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The Italian rainbow cookie has always been the saving grace of any cookie platter. Colorful layers of almond paste-infused cake sandwiched with raspberry jam and coated in chocolate — cookies really don't get any prettier than that. Stephen Collucci, pastry chef of NYC's Cookshop and author of "Everyday's a Sundae", is sharing a tried-and-true Italian rainbow cookie recipe from his cookbook that will soon become a go-to.
Though the intricate, colorful cake layers of these cookies may seem intimidating to make, things get much simpler once you learn that you'll bake all the colors separately. This way, assembling the rainbow cookies comes down to stacking layers of baked cake on top of one another — with raspberry jam in between each one, of course. We can't pretend like this is the quickest or easiest cookie recipe you could stumble across, but it is one that yields a brilliantly impressive result.
Recipe adapted from 'Everyday's a Sundae' by Stephen Collucci.
What to serve with Italian rainbow cookies
Italian Rainbow Cookies Recipe
Layers of almond cake are sandwiched with raspberry jam before getting coated in chocolate for the prettiest and most delicious rainbow cookies you've ever had.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 (8-ounce) can almond paste
- 3 sticks unsalted butter, softened and divided
- 4 eggs, separated
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon red food coloring
- ¼ teaspoon green food coloring
- ½ cup raspberry jam, divided
- 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325 F, and grease three 9x13-inch quarter sheet pans with cooking spray, then line each with parchment.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, almond paste and 1 stick of the butter. Mix until smooth and lump free, being sure to break down the almond paste as best you can. Add the remaining 2 sticks of butter and continue to mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Gradually add the egg yolks, followed by the milk and almond extract. Mix until combined. Add the flour and slowly mix until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Once the flour is combined, set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they form stiff, fluffy peaks. Fold the whipped egg whites into the flour mixture to form a smooth batter, then divide equally between 3 bowls.
- Stir the red food coloring into the first bowl of batter until evenly pink colored, then stir the green color into the second bowl of batter until evenly green colored, leaving the third bowl untouched. Keeping the batters separate, evenly spread them into the greased and parchment-lined quarter sheet pans, and bake, rotating halfway through, until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Then let cool completely.
- Once cooled, spread half of the jam to cover the surface of the green cake and place the undyed layer, making sure the parchment is discarded, directly on top, sandwiching the jam. Repeat this step by spreading the remaining jam on top of the undyed layer and placing the pink layer directly on top of it, discarding the parchment.
- Cover the cake with plastic wrap and top with another sheet pan. Weigh down the layers with heavy plates or cans, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Remove the weights and plastic wrap. Spread half of the melted chocolate over the top of the cake and refrigerate until set, 30 minutes.
- Once solid, flip the cake onto a cutting board, discarding the bottom layer of parchment, and spread the remaining melted chocolate in a even layer over the surface.
- Return to the refrigerator and chill until set, 30 minutes.
- Once set, trim the cake into a 7 ½x10 ½-inch rectangle, reserving all trim for snacking or rainbow cookie ice cream. Cut the cake into 1 ½-inch squares, then serve.
What are tips for making perfect Italian rainbow cookies?
The first tip for making successful Italian rainbow cookies, as with nearly any cookie recipe out there, is to make sure your ingredients are ready to go and at the right temperatures. The cookie batter in this recipe requires lots of softened butter, so make sure you're giving the butter plenty of time to come to room temperature before beginning. Likewise, separate the egg yolks and whites before beginning the recipe so that the respective egg parts are ready to go when you need them.
The actual baking part of this recipe is pretty easy, but make sure to keep the three batter colors separate as they bake. The easiest way to ensure that no colors bleed over is to bake the three batters on a trio of baking sheets (by using the same-sized sheets, you can also ensure that they'll all bake evenly). Finally, have patience during the refrigeration periods of the recipe, especially the part where you weigh down the layers for 4 hours in the fridge. Tedious as that wait time may be, this step is crucial to achieving those perfectly compact layers of cake within your cookies.