Bring a touch of Italy into your kitchen this holiday Season with this delightful and delicious recipe for Italian Rainbow Cookies.
Also known as Venetian or Tri-Color Cookies, these vibrant treats are a beloved staple of Italian-American bakeries. With their layers of almond sponge cake, raspberry jam, and chocolate coating, they are not only visually appealing but also incredibly delicious. We’ll guide you step by step through the process of creating these irresistible Italian Rainbow Cookies.
This recipe is part of The Sweetest Season, an annual virtual cookie swap co-hosted by Erin of The Speckled Palate and Susannah of Feast + West. Every year, food bloggers get together to share new holiday cookie recipes to make and give.
Ingredients for Italian Rainbow Cookies: Creating Layers of Flavor
1 cup sugar
8 oz almond paste
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs, separate yolks and whites
¼ cup milk
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon red food color
½ teaspoon green food color
½ cup raspberry jam
1 cup chocolate chips
Step-by-Step Preparation
Preheat oven to 325 and prepare 3 square baking pans with baking spray
In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, almond paste, and butter until smooth
Add in the egg yolks one at a time
Mix in the milk and almond extract
Add in the flour mixing until combined then set mixture aside
In a separate bowl beat the egg whites to stiff peaks then fold into cake mixture
Separate the mixture in equal amounts into 3 separate bowls
Add red food color to one bowl, green food color to another, and leave the 3rd bowl as is
By following this recipe, you’ll be able to recreate the magic of traditional Italian Rainbow Cookies in your own kitchen. Prepare to impress your friends and family with these visually stunning and utterly delicious treats. Happy baking!
Learn how to make authentic Italian Rainbow Cookies with this step-by-step recipe. These vibrant and delicious treats feature layers of almond sponge cake, raspberry jam, and chocolate coating. Get ready to enjoy a burst of color and flavor!
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
8 oz almond paste
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs, separate yolks and whites
¼ cup milk
2 teaspoons almond extract
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon red food color
½ teaspoon green food color
½ cup raspberry jam
1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 and prepare 3 square baking pans with baking spray
In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, almond paste, and butter until smooth
Add in the egg yolks one at a time
Mix in the milk and almond extract
Add in the flour mixing until combined then set mixture aside
In a separate bowl beat the egg whites to stiff peaks then fold into cake mixture
Separate the mixture in equal amounts into 3 separate bowls
Add red food color to one bowl, green food color to another, and leave the 3rd bowl as is
Place each batter in a separate prepared baking pan
Bake 10-12 minutes, cool completely
Place the green cake on a plate and spread half of the jam on top
Next place the regular colored cake on top and spread the remaining jam on top
Lastly, place the red cake on top
Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 4 hours
Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring until smooth
Spread evenly on top of the chilled cake, use a fork to add texture and design if desired
Chill for an additional 30 minutes until the chocolate is set
Slice the rectangle into 1 inch squares
Did you make this recipe?
Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest
This year we are raising money for Cookies 4 Kids’ Cancer, which is a recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to funding research for new, innovative and less-toxic treatments for childhood cancer.
Since 2008, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer has granted nearly $18 million to pediatric cancer research in the form of 100+ research grants to leading pediatric cancer centers across the country. From these grants have stemmed 35+ treatments available to kids battling cancer today.
Help us raise money for this important cause! Donate through our fundraising page.
Another exciting thing is that Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is in a matching window with their friends at OXO, meaning OXO will be matching every dollar raised through the end of 2023, up to $100,000. Whatever money we raise will automatically double on our fundraising page!
Rainbow cookies originate in Italy, but Italian Americans added the color scheme to celebrate their heritage. The yellow layer used to be a white layer, so you'd have the Italian flag. My wife's family is partially Italian American and these used to be her favorite cookies.
While there is no direct analogue to rainbow cookies in Italy, Italian food historian Mary Taylor Simeti speculates that the Italian-American rainbow cookie is based on the tri-colored gelato di campagna, a nougat with the same colored layers.
While they're known as rainbow cookies, the name is a bit of a misnomer. Rainbow cookies don't feature all the colors of the rainbow. Traditionally, they have just the three colors of the Italian flag. That has also earned them the nickname tri-color cookies, Italian Flag cookies, or Neapolitans.
Pizzelles, the oldest known waffle cookies, originated in Italy. The name pizzelle is based on the Italian word 'pizze' meaning round and flat, with the ending 'elle' referring to its small size.
Bakery or homemade cookies can be stored at room temperature two to three weeks or two months in the refrigerator. Cookies retain their quality when stored in the freezer for eight to 12 months. Moist bars, such as cheesecake and lemon bars, can be refrigerated for seven days.
Argentina led the list with the highest consumption, with individuals averaging 12.44 kilograms annually. Following closely behind was the United Kingdom, where per capita consumption stood at 10.02 kilograms. Italy and the United States recorded consumption rates of 7.37 kilograms and 6.91 kilograms respectively.
For cookies, bars, cakes/cupcakes, biscuits, scones, or anything that needs a tender crumb, use Farina di grano tenero, 00. This is your “cake flour.” Nobody wants a chewy cake. For bread, I recommend starting off with Farina di Manitoba, grano tenero, 0; this is similar to standard American bread flour.
Oreo is the best-selling cookie in the world. It is now sold in over 100 countries. Oreo was first produced in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company, now known as Na-Bis-Co.
The word biscotto, used in modern Italian to refer to a biscuit (or cookie) of any kind, originates from the Medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning 'twice-cooked'.
Equally as stunning as they are flavorful, rainbow cookies are created by sandwiching layers of almond cake together with apricot jam. The layers of these Italian cookies are traditionally red, white, and green to pay homage to the Italian flag, but the colors can be customized for any celebration.
Rainbow cookies originated in Italian immigrant communities of the United States during the 1900s to honor their native country. They are also called "tricolore" because of the resemblance to the Italian flag with white, red, and green layers.
Another claim is that the American name derives from the Dutch word koekje or more precisely its informal, dialect variant koekie which means little cake, and arrived in American English with the Dutch settlement of New Netherland, in the early 1600s.
The signature Smiley Cookie was adapted from a cookie an employee enjoyed as a child in Western PA. Eat'n Park began baking their version in 1986 and coincided with the addition of in-store bakeries at its locations. The Smiley Cookie was first produced by Warner's Bakery, a small bakery in Titusville, Pennsylvania.
The earliest known use of the noun magic cookie is in the 1970s. OED's earliest evidence for magic cookie is from 1979, in a text by B. W. Kernighan and M. D. McIlroy. magic cookie is formed within English, by compounding.
The original Stella D'oro company was established in 1930 by Italian immigrants Angela and Joseph Kresevich as "Stella D'oro Biscuit Company". The family also operated a restaurant next door to its manufacturing facility on West 237th Street at the north end of Kingsbridge in the Bronx, New York City.
Introduction: My name is Horacio Brakus JD, I am a lively, splendid, jolly, vivacious, vast, cheerful, agreeable person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.