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These rainbow cookies are moist, mellow, and full of almond flavor.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces almond paste
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 4 large eggs, separated
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 6 drops red food coloring
- 6 drops green food coloring
- ¼ cup seedless red raspberry jam
- ¼ cup apricot jam
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
Directions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line three 9×13-inch baking pans with parchment paper.
Step 2
Break almond paste apart with a fork in a large bowl. Add butter, sugar, and egg yolks; beat with an electric mixer until mixture is fluffy and smooth. Stir in flour to form a dough.
Step 3
Beat egg whites in a glass, metal, or ceramic bowl until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into dough until combined. Divide dough into 3 equal portions. Mix one portion with red food coloring, and one with green food coloring. Spread each portion into one of the prepared baking pans.
Step 4
Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Carefully remove from pan and remove parchment paper; cool completely on wire racks.
Step 5
Place green layer onto a piece of plastic wrap large enough to wrap all three layers. Spread green layer with raspberry jam and top with uncolored layer. Spread with apricot jam and top with pink layer. Transfer layers to a baking sheet and enclose with plastic wrap. Place a heavy pan or cutting board on top of wrapped layers to compress. Chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight.
Step 6
Remove plastic wrap. Top with melted chocolate; refrigerate for 1 hour or until chocolate is firm. Slice into small 1-inch squares to serve.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings Per Recipe 96 | |
| Calories 61 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat3g | 4% |
| Saturated Fat2g | 9% |
| Cholesterol13mg | 4% |
| Sodium17mg | 1% |
| Total Carbohydrate7g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber0g | 1% |
| Protein1g | |
| Vitamin C0mg | 1% |
| Calcium7mg | 1% |
| Iron0mg | 2% |
| Potassium21mg | 0% |
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
**Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient.If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.
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source by allrecipe
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this recipe is the one I’ve been searching for since I was little because my aunt would make these only during christmas.
I love the recipe and the cookies are still soft and fresh even after a week and a half later.
I stored them in the fridge to stay fresher. Thank you so much for this recipe. -
These are the best!!
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A time-consuming recipe. Yummy though.
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Although this is a time-consuming recipe, I must say that it is bakery-quality.
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These delicious cookies have become a Christmas tradition for me and my daughters. The only problem is that once they’re made the girls don’t want to share them with anyone!!
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I loved these cookies when I was young and my mom worked in a bakery-I used to eat them every day-I haven’t been able to find them in years and thought I would take a chance that they would be on the net-and now I can’t tell you how happy I am. These are the BEST cookies ever:o)
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I have searched and searched for this recipe. I get rave reviews every time I make it. Althought instead of making one batch and splitting into 3 layers. I make a separate batch for each layer. Thumbs up. These cookies are great!!!!!
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This is one of my all-time favorite and most requested recipes. I even make it easier by just spraying the pans with non-stick cooking spray instead of parchment paper and the cookies easily come out. Every time I make these people cannot believe they were not bought in a bakery they look so beautiful and professional. And how they taste!! Delicious and super moist little cakes. Outrageous!
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Although tasty and pretty, it was not simple to make this recipe. Had trouble cutting the layered cookie into squares without the chocolate cracking.
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Great tasting cookies. A bit time consuming to make. And to solve the cookie cutting problem, cut them before the chocolate hardens.
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I’d only seen these cookies when a college friend got them from a bakery. I made it my winter break goal to figure out how to make my own. I was amazed! They looked just as good and tasted better!! I use butter instead of parchment paper and they come out fine. There was so much demand for them that I ended up making them four times in one month! To ease the frustration of the long refridgeration period and satisfy the ravenous spectators, I like to bake a small pan of brownies along with the cookies. This is a fabulous recipe!! It has certainly made my friends and family happy.
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Fun to make! To make sure I got even portions of dough, I weighed the whole batch and then divided it into 10 parts. When it was time to roll the dough out, I cut pices of paper for patterns. I put the paper under wax paper and then rolled the dough to cover the paper. These were much easier to make than I had imagined.
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I love rainbow cookies! I have been looking for the perfect rainbow cookie recipe an i think i found it right here.
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I have made these countless number of times to rave reviews. They are worth all the effort. My recipe calls for greasing the 9×13 pan then add wax pax and grease that, bake cookies and flip onto board the green layer, then spread preserves, then yellow, etc. It has never failed me.
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These were delicious! My kids did not like them, but adult friends did. I strongly urge you to carefully divide the dough into three equal batches. I had one a bit smaller and one a bit larger so it didn’t look as nice as I think it should.
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These are the BEST cookies ever!!! I love these so much. I used to live near a bakery that sold them but I moved about 2000 miles away 🙁 Now I can make them myself!!
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I have used this recipe for just about every holiday and each time I make them I get so many compliments! It is such an easy recipe, but it looks like you were slaving in the kitchen. At Thanksgiving, I even gave some to a neighbor, because this recipe makes so much! But each time I make them there are never any left overs!
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OUTSTANDING! Make 2 batches – these disappeared!
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Great recipe! Easy and wonderful. Thanks so much!
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Incredible recipe for an exquisite cookie! Like everyone else, I was only able to purchase these on the East coast in specialty bakeries. I tried this recipe for an office cookie exchange – it won rave reviews! Such an easy and impressive cookie that I made 4 batches for holiday gifts.
I also coated not only the top but the sides of the cookie bars as well before slicing to create a box-like effect.
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OH MY GOSH! I am from Long Island…I moved to Harrisburg PA a few years ago…a place that doesn NOT make or has even heard of Rainbow Cookies. Not one bakery. I am Italian, and these were always one of the pastries served on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I am having CHristmas Eve this Year, and I just finished making these. They are absolutely wonderful and I would not change one thing. The only thing I did was slice the cake to make strips so I could coat the top, bottom, and sides with chocolate. That way, when you slice them into the small rectangles, the whole thing is covered in chocolate except the inside. I also sprinkled the tops with mini chocolate chips after coating. DEEEEE-LICIOUS!!! And *very* easy to make!
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WoW!! A lot of work but definitely worth it. I would also cut before the chocolate is completely cooled to avoid cracking. This is better than some bakeries!! Will make again and again!!!!!!!
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If you have 2 1/2 hours, this recipe is a great time consumer. I found this recipe a little hard to make as well. Besides that, they tasted good.
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I am a New Yorker living in FL and these cookies taste as if they came from an Italian bakery in NY. I have not found any bakeries here that have pastries as good as NY. My husband and I love rainbow cookies and everytime we go to NY we get some. This recipe is great and the cookies come out great. I have made them several times and everyone loves them.
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These were a little time consuming but so worth the effort!!!! I used 12X8 aluminum disposable type cake pans and then lined them with non-stick aluminum foil. My almond paste came in 7 oz.which worked fine. All I had on hand was Plum jam and Pear butter and that worked out fine also. I cut them in small petit four size squares and then put the chocolate topping on. My kids want me to make them and use vanilla glaze instead of the jam next time. These are a winner, looks very professional!!!
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Very hard to make and time consuming. I almost give up half way through. I was going to give the recipe a 1 but the taste is very unique and I find myself snacking on them. The recipe was not what I expected.
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I had never heard of these cookies before, but I am so glad I tried them. They were a hit with our house!
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I am so glad that I went against my first hunch not to make these. At first glance they look VERY time consuming and hard to make. WRONG! Not that time consuming and SO EXQUISITE! Double Thanks for this one! :-))))))) A+++++++
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If I could add stars to this I would. I have made this MANY times. I absoultely love it!! I have shipped these cookies accross country, to family, and when I visit I either make these cookies or go home 🙂 When they are all set and done, I cut them into squares and pour melted milk chocolate over them. You can use any chocolate you like, I just like milk chocolate. I have this recipe laminated in duplicate, just in case I lose one. This is a must for parties, or holidays. Very colorful, very delicious!!
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Penney, you have saved me a BUNDLE of money since I no longer need to fly back to New York to get these cookies!! I can’t believe how great these taste – my visiting NYC relatives don’t believe I MADE them! I’m not crazy about other reviewers’ ideas of cutting these before coating with chocolate – though it’s difficult for me to admit there could ever be such a thing as too much chocolate, these cookies have such a great flavor, it’s a shame to cover it up entirely. I’ve found that, after coating the uncut cookies with chocolate and letting the chocolate firm up a bit, you can cut through the chocolate neatly if you dip the knife in hot water before each cut. Just make sure you wipe the knife off with a towel so that it is still hot but not wet. I am GRATEFUL for this recipe – thanks again!
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I had a very difficult time getting the almond paste to cream into the rest of the dough. Overall, I would not say it was easy to make, and yet they did not fly off the tray at the baby shower where I brought these. I ended up putting quite a few in the freezer because I had so many leftover. I did like the taste though, but do not think I would make this again unfortunately.
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Time consuming-but an worth and Italian’s wait!
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Wow! This recipe was just as good as everyone before me has said. I cut the layerd cake in strips and coated it with chocolate on three sides as suggested. I needed to use a little more chocolate to do this! However, these cookies tasted just like the ones you buy in the bakery!!!
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This is a wonderful recipe!!! A little difficult for novice bakers like myself but I always get rave reviews when I make this classic cookie. These are a favorite of everyone I know!!
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I rate these a 3 because they were a lot of work. They turned out very pretty and taste pretty good, but not as good as the effort warranted. For the jam layers I used Strawberry and Apricot. I tried coating the bars both by cutting into sqaures and covering the squares and also leaving in a sheet and covering the whole thing with choclate and cutting. Doing the individual sqaures was really time consuming and actually too much chocolate that covered the almond flavour which I love. I think I will just keep looking in the Italian bakeries in town to find these, or only make them for VERY speical occasions.
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Thanks Penney for one of the best cookie recipes ever!!
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This recipe is the best I’ve tried – and I’ve tried a lot! I received rave reviews from evrybody who tasted them. I even think they taste better than the bakery. Thank you so much!
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These flavor of these cookies is perfect. Watch out local bakeries! I made them for the holidays this year and they were a big hit. I found that spreading the dough into the pans was probably the hardest part, but otherwise this recipe was not difficult. The chocolate did not crack as some others mentioned.
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These are delicious cookies and easy to make (just takes a bit of time). The combination of flavors is wonderful. They are beautiful cookies and look a lot harder to make than they really are. I will definitely make them again! One hint: I grate the almond paste into the batter. This makes it much easier to incorporate the almond paste into the cookie dough. I love this cookie!!
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This is a great recipe. If you follow it step by step it’s not really hard, there are just a lot of steps. My kids love these cookies, so I make this recipe once a week. I add more food coloring than specified to make the color more bright and I also all yellow to the uncolored batter.
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tasty and not too difficult to make, just make sure you leave enough time!
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I actually just have a question…what kind of butter did everyone use for this recipe, salted or unsalted? I am very anxious to make these; although I have my pick of local bakeries that sell DE-LICIOUS rainbow cookies, it seems like baking my own batch might be a pretty fun project. Thanks!!
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This is a terrific recipe! I made it the first time exactly as instructed, and loved it! I did have some trouble spreading the dough in the pan, but as long as the top layer is smooth, don’t worry so much about the others since they won’t show anyway.
I also wanted to share that I made the recipe again a few days later with some changes: I colored the whole batch of dough (I used red) and just divided in half and baked. I layered with cherry jam and weighted it down in the fridge overnight. I added a few tablespoons of butter to the melted chocolate to make it spread easier, and spread that thinly over the top and chilled. The result was a delicious cherry, almond, chocolate cookie that was awesome! Not the traditional rainbow, but a really good cookie!
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Thank you so much for this recipe. It is so close to the bakery made when I was little in New York. The only change I made was using half milk and half semi sweet chocolate for the coating. I also doubled the amount of chocolate and coated the cookies on all sides before slicing. PS- you have to slice it before the chocolate is fully hardened. If you lightly oil or grease your knife, slicing is not as sticky.
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These were VERY labor intensive. The jam and the chocolate on top prevents you from tasting any of the almond or anything else for that matter. All I could suggest would be to use only one layer of jam (either flavor) and drizzle the chocolate lightly on top instead of pouring all of it on.
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My family had ate the whole batch in less then an hour there were 4 of us and 96 cookies so imagine how good they are
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This cookie is very delicious. It does take longer than 45 min. to make, closer to 1 1/2 hours, still worth it though. I am from Long Island, as a kid my mother used to buy these from the bakery, my whole family loved them. Since then I have lived in Florida and Virginia, I cannot find them anywhere that taste as good as the N.Y. bakeries made them. When I found this recipe I was so excited, I immediatly gave the recipe to my mother, she has made them about 6 times since, myself, I have made them 4 times. They taste even better than ones at the bakery. I did have a problem with the almond paste in a tube. There were a lot of lumps compared to the paste in a can. Also, slice, then spread the chocolate, before putting in the refrigerator to harden, this will prevent the choc. from cracking. Happy cooking!!!
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This recipe is yummy but I have problems spreading the dough on top of the parchment paper. Some how I don’t yield 96 servings.
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I made these cookies and everyone wanted the recipe! They did take a little longer than I expected and I did think the chocolate on top overpowered the cookies but everyone loved them! I’ll definately make again but next time I’ll put a thinner coat of chocolate on top. It does make a lot of cookies so that does help compensate for the extra time it takes to prepare them. Be sure you cut them before they harden too much or like other people said, the cookies will crack. Another tip, almond paste is very expensive. Try to find a wholesale baking store to purchase a large container. I think the container I bought was about 10 lbs and only cost about $22. That is MUCH less than you would spend in the grocery store. I freeze it and keeps fine for a LONG time.
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I am a native Long Island Italian girl who grew up eating these cookies. THEY ARE THE BEST! I only had difficulty spreading the dough, it was much thinner than I anticipated. Perhaps next time I will double the recipe and then bake in the three layers. I couldn’t get any of my layers to reach the end of the pan! But nonetheless one amazing, fantastic, thrilling cookie!!!
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I thought this recipe was delicious and so did my friends and family! Instead of apricot I spread the raspberry jam on both layers.
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Yummy!!!!I’m from NY and can’t find these down here in Louisiana. I made them in Green, Purple, and Gold layers to celebrate Mardi Gras. (Boy have things changed to what we did during Mardi Gras before having kids!)
A few things I noted: no way was one bag of chips enough…I needed two bags. I guess that’s b/c I should have thinned out the chocolate a little with shortening or something. Also, I would suggest you skip that last “flip” to add chocolate to the 4th side. Three was plenty.
Another thing…I think I’d save myself the headache and double this recipe next time because that dough was pretty tough to spread out.
And lastly…I used a tube of marzipan (not can). I don’t know if that’s different than paste, but I couldn’t crumble it for anything! It was hard as a rock. My hubby and I worked on it forever, and I still ended up with bits & pieces that did not dissolve.
Anyhow, we’re just novice bakers….most of these things were probably our own doing. Overall……exceptional and impressed every person who had one. Thanks!!!! (I have attached my photos too!)
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This is my husband’s favorite cookie and he is always disappointed by the ones I buy him from bakeries here in NJ. I made them for this Valentines Day and he loved them. They made a beautiful presentation. They are extremely time consuming though, it took me 2 hours just to get up to the baking part and I am an experienced baker. The most stressful part is spreading the batter into the three pans. The next time I will draw a template of the bottom of the pan on the parchment paper and spread the batter on the parchment on the counter and then I will cut around the paper so it fits in the pan. I used the canned Solo almond paste, it was about $4.00/can. It was moist and mixed nicely in the stand mixer on high, no need to unclump with a fork. I used warmed seedless raspberry jam on both layers and I used less chocolate mixed with a pat of butter so the top would be a thin layer. I only covered the top in chocolate and I’m glad I did b/c it almost overwhelmed the almond flavor. They kept nice and moist for a week and I never had a problem with the chocolate cracking. I only refrigerated the weighted pans for 3 hours, you can wait 8hrs or overnight if you’d like, but it isn’t necessary. I will save this recipe for holidays and special occasions because of the time factor. They were quite delicious though.
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These are my favorite cookies and I always buy them from the store. They are usually pretty pricey and cheap with the quantity given so I decided to try and make them myself and I had fun doing it. They are extremely time consuming, so you have to have patience and really want to make them. It didn?t take me long to mix because I have a Kitchen Aid mix master and I pretty much threw all the ingredients in there and had it do all the work. I didn?t beat the egg whites in a separate bowl nor fold it in the dough because the cookie is meant to be compressed for a few hours so I didn?t think it made much sense to fold in the eggs. As far as laying out the batter into the three pans, I took a butter knife to evenly spread it. Its kind of like spreading frosting, I didn?t have a difficult time dealing with it, it?s just a different texture and requires different handling than standard baking dough?s (patience). I used ? a cup of jam on both layers I spread chocolate mix and also chocolate sprinkles all over. It is best to cut the cookie shortly after the chocolate is added. The recipe made about $60 worth of cookies and tasted better than any bakery or packaged rainbow cookie I?ve ever had. Everybody loved them and ate them right up. I?ve heard that these cookies taste better as they age (2+ weeks) but they are too hard to resist eating until them. I highly recommend them.
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This recipe is awesome! I usually only get my hands on these cookies once every three months when I visit NJ, but this recipe is even better than the store-bought ones. They were time consuming to make, but well worth it. I melted Ghiradelli chips for the outside coating, and they turned out so tastey, that they didn’t last more than 15 minutes when I brought them to work. Definitely a keeper!
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To make a wonderful dish even better try using almond filling instead of almond paste they come out so moist they melt in your mouth.
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THESE COOKIES ARE AMAZING- I HAVE GIVEN THEM OUT AS HOLIDAY GIFTS-MY FAMILY BEGS ME TO MAKE THEM EVERY HOLIDAY- ONE TIP- I GET MY ALMOND PASTE FROM THE LOCAL BAKERY-IT IS MUCH CHEAPER AND EASIER TO WORK WITH.
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These were excellent…just like the traditional Italian recipe my family keeps secret. Just a few tips…spray Pam on the corners of the pans UNDER the parchment paper to keep it from sliding around when spreading the dough. Also, a tsp of butter or Crisco mixed in the the chocolate will prevent it from cracking when it’s cut. Use the canned paste, not the roll…its much easier to work with. These are time consuming but soooo worth it!
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Incredible cookies which are well worth the extra work. I really wished that I had read the comments before making these because there are a bunch of really helpful hints that I am going to try next time.
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This recipe is truly just as good as any bakery. I found all the comments posted to be very useful and I discovered some tips of my own. I used a cake decorating comb acroos the top of the chocolate to give it a nice effect. I found that a pizza slicer worked really well to slice the cookies. I also found that for each layer of cookie I had to use half a recipe instead of a third.
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Excellent! Per other reviewer’s suggestions, I grated the almond paste and added 1 tsp. almond extract to the dough. I also followed another reviewer’s suggestion and added 2 tbsp. butter and 1/4 C heavy cream to the chocolate. I had no problem spreading the dough and the chocolate spread and set well and didn’t crack or fall off when I cut the cookies. I have had these cookies from many bakeries and these are as good as or better than any I have had. Thanks for the recipe!!!!
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After reading all the commentary, I had to try this recipe. They turned out beautifully. Truthfully, I didn’t really know what to expect, but even if I didn’t do it exactly right, I was very pleased with the result. They were well recieved and, for what they are, pretty easy to make. Thanks!
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I followed some recommendations made by previous reviewers. I added a teaspoon of almond extract, and mixed a half a tablespoon of shortening in with the melted chocolate for easier spreading. Then I cut the cake into long strips so that the bars were coated on 3 of the 4 sides (which did require twice the chocolate). I changed the recipe by adding red food coloring to the entire batch and using pureed cherry fruit spread in between the layers. Instead of using 3 13×9 inch pans, I used 2 jelly roll pans, then cut the cakes in half (which gave me 4 layers instead of 3). So I actually created chocolate covered cherry bars instead, but the flavor of the cake (cookie) was basically the same. It was incredibly delicious, and really not much work. I brought it to a family function, and all the cookies disappeared quickly with lots of compliments.
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ADDICTIVE!!! I’m not a big fan of sweets but this was worth it. I originally planned to make this for a bake sale for some soldiers and ended up eating half the batch. I followed the examples of others by adding the almond extract to enhance the flavor.
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This is the second year I have made these, with astounding results! To ensure the cookies came out okay, I cut the sponge part first (after assembly with jam), then dipped the tops in melted chocolate. The results were beautiful. The only alteration I made was to use almond filling instead of paste. It came out fine in the mixer, and I didn’t have any chunks. Put an almond sliver on top so people know that there are nuts in them.
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This is such a great recipe. You must use high quality chocolate. I only make it once a year because it is tedius, but it is worth it.
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Just like previous reviews I have made some slight modifications to the recipe. I put the almond paste in the food processor with the sugar and pulse it and then process on full until it is all completely broken up and incorporated well with the sugar.
Adding 1 tsp. pure almond extract to the recipe makes quite a taste difference.
The spreading of the dough onto the pans is the most frustrating part. I put a moist paper towel onto the baking sheet under the parchment which holds it in place while spreading the dough. This works quite well. Just remember to remove it prior to baking. Also dot the dough around the edge of the pan (extra near the corners) as much as you can and spread it towards the center. Increasing the volume of recipe would give you more dough to work with, but with patience the layers come out nice and thin as intended.
In addition I apply a thin coating of melted chocolate to the bottom (invert layers after chilling and apply chocolate and cover with wax paper and turn over and then add the chocolate to the top. I also add chocolate jimmies to the top (very quickly before the chocolate sets).
Enjoy!
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This are really great! Too bad the almond paste costs so much I think I would be making these once a week. ;o)
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These are some of my favorite cookies and I was so happy to find this recipe. I was very surprised how very easy this was to do. They came out fantastic, although I was a little nervous because the batter did not fill anywhere near the entire pan and looked flat going into the over. When assembled, it came out the correct size. I think next time I will try and put the batter in 3 “1/2 cookie sheet” sized pans.
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I found this recipe about a month ago and have since made 4 batches of these cookies. Everyone loves them! They come out incredibly moist and delicious. I have made some moderations to this recipe. First when breaking up the almond paste make sure to beat it very well with the sugar until it is completely beaten if not you will see the paste in the finished cookies. Second add almond extract to the dough- I would go as much as 3/4 tablespoon, this really adds to the flavor of the cookies. The spreading of the dough is difficult but do-able. I take the parchment paper and make it large enough to put under the pan on each side which makes it MUCH easier to spread. Also, for the melted chocolate on top I add a little heavy cream and butter to make it spread easier and cut without breaking. I also add some powdered sugar on top of the cookies afterwards which covers any imperfections in the chocolate.
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Very good! Taste just like it came from the bakery
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Great tasting, and rather easy to make…. my family loved them!
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these impressed everyone who tried them
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RAINBOW COOKIE CAKE!!!
I stumbled upon a rainbow cookie cake once before and I loved the idea. A whole cake just like my favorite cookie! Wow…and thanks to this recipe, I figured it out. I followed the recipe exactly as written only I added a splash of almond extract and I used three round 8″ pans (bake for about 7-10 mins. longer, eyeball it). For a chocolate glaze that tastes like the traditional rainbow cookie chocolate topping but can be used to frost the whole cake I used the Satiny Chocolate Glaze from this website. The cake will be dense like the cookie, do not expect a cake as moist as a traditional layer cake. If you?re looking for a cake that tastes and looks just like a giant rainbow cookie you will be very pleased. Because of the colors, it’s a great cake to serve at Christmat time. -
As close to New York Rainbow Cookies as my family will get here in Florida! My family thought they were great! A little more work then I like to do to make cookies , but will be making again soon!
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Very pretty, and tasty. However, I wish I knew the trick to cutting cookies/bars into uniform squares. Can anyone help?
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Very pretty, and tasty. However, I wish I knew the trick to cutting cookies/bars into uniform squares. Can anyone help?
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I bake these cookies in a disposable square pan with the reynolds non stick foil and have found it easier to remove and it won’t fall apart like with the bigger pan. Get 3 disposable pans and the clean up is a snap. The cookies come out bigger but this does not affect the overall taste. I place 1 1/3 cups of the cookie mix in each and it is just the right amount. Add the 3/4 teaspoon of the almond extract as others has suggested. Follow the other reviews with the whipping cream and butter for top, I finish off the cookies by adding chocolate sprinkes on top.
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This is WONDERFUL!!! My Aunt used to make this around the holidays and I always wanted to try and make it. I made it last night for the first time and it was well worth the 3hours it took! I will be making it next week for Christmas (last night was my recipe test-run) when my in-laws are here. I followed the recipe exactly, and the changes I am going to make for next time are:
1) Follow previous reviews and add maybe 1 tsp extra of almond extract.
2) Be a little more generous on the jam in between (I only made a VERY thin layer last time).
3) Add a little more than the recommended food dye for bolder colors.
4) I would like to try something new with the pans. I am unsure if I should just go completely non-stick and no parchment or spray them. The parchment just moved around everywhere and was so frustrating!
5) Make your own almond paste. There is a good recipe on here….just search for almond paste. Trust me.
Any advice on the pan thing let me know. Otherwise it is a perfect recipe! Thank you so much! -
Just what I was looking for… and a nice “WOW” factor from family/friends, too! I did not have the appropriate sized pans to bake the layers in, so I used the larger pans I had and tried to spread the doughs to the mentioned size. In addition, I refused to spend $6 for the almond paste or filling, b/c I had alot of almond extract on hand, so I used a whole bottle (1 oz). All in all, it still came out great!
I added 2-3 TBSP of crisco to the melted chocolate (I opened 2 bags Ghiradelli semi-sweet and used the leftovers to dip pretzels and Oroes). I refrigerated the strips (choc. on 3 sides) for an hour or so before cutting, and the choc. did NOT crack at all.
I can’t wait to sample them tomorrow after sitting overnight- I think the other reviewers are correct: IF you can wait they will get even better.
Next time: I will buy the correct size pans and add a little yellow food coloring the the “plain” layer as it didn’t look quite as yellow as the bakery ones. I MAY try the almond paste if I can find it cheaper 🙂
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excellent. we used marzipan instead of almond paste and it still tasted delicious. we doubled everything in the recipe minus the sugar because marzipan has extra sugar. Apparently these weren’t as sweet as they normally are but I think they had the perfect sweetness.
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super excellent!!!everybody loved them !!! tasted better than a bakery cause u don’t know how long they’ve been sitting in the case. Got 40 to 50 pieces from mixture. At $9 to $12 a pound u do the math and figure out how much u save !! TIPS Spray Pam for baking on disposable pans and push down the parchment paper on the pans It helps keep the paper from shifting when spreading the dough. Use a utensil knife to spread the dough and then cringe up the edges like a pizza dough to make it more uniform. I used Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips inside of semi-sweet chips and added chocolate sprinkles. Use a pizza cutter to make uniform pieces always cutting away from yourself. Goes great with cold milk. Enjoy !!!
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This recipe is fantastic! I did add some almond extract, used almond filling rather than paste and two layers of raspberry jam rather than apricot, but the cookies came out soft and tasted just right. Thank you for posting this!
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WOW. No need to go to long island to get these great cookies. They taste pretty much identical. thanks!!
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Wow, these are the real deal- just like NYC. I cant get enough of them
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This is my all time FAVORITE cookie for the Holidays. I actually ship them to friends and family all over. I got a recipe quite similiar to this a few years back from an old Italian lady and lost it and was lost without it. Came across this recipe and have added a few things to make my own. Thanks for posting this!!
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Great recipe, one caveat I can offer is make sure and crumble up the almond paste prior to mixing. I tried hand crumbling and there were some chunks of almond paste (not a bad thing though). Also I used chocolate ganache instead of melted chocolate chips for topping, and added 1 tsp. of almond extract to egg yolks prior to creaming. Came out great.
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These came out perfect. I did add 1/2 tsp. almond extract also. I had been searching for a good recipe for these cookies and I have finally found it. Not near as difficult as I thought they would be. Will now be on my holiday list forever.
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The taste was really good but it did not come out very moist. Maybe I missed something?
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These are spectacular! I took one reviewer’s advice and added almond extract to the cake, and cream and butter to the icing, both of which worked out really well. I also added yellow food dye to the plain cake layer just to make it look more like a rainbow and it really did make a nice presentation.
One tip–the first time I made these I had a great deal of trouble getting the very thick dough spread evenly over the relatively large area of the baking pan. The second time, I sprayed a large sheet of wax paper with Pam, put it face-down on the dough that I had poured into a baking pan, took another baking pan of the same size, and pressed the dough down evenly. The wax paper came right off, and with a little touch-up, I had the dough edge-to-edge effortlessly.
Thanks for this recipe. Everyone says they’re better than anything they’ve ever gotten from a bakery.
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This recipe is awesome!! I actually didn’t separate the eggs and it’s not necessary to do so – it’s supposed to be a denser cookie, and it worked wonderfully!! My husband gave me a great idea on how to spread the batter onto the parchment paper: place the paper inside the pan and score the edges with a knife. Pull it out and plop the dough in the middle and spread it out evenly out to the edges that you made. Then just put it back into the pan and you have a perfectly even cookie!
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I read all the reviews and came out with this:
crumble almond paste, a fork works well, don’t seperate eggs,add yellow color to the plain layer, add almond extract to batter, use whatever flavor jam you have, add butter & cream to chocolate for easier spreading (just 1Tbsp butter melted with chips worked well for me) cut with a clean sharp knife. NO PROBLEMS! I put multi colored sprinkles on mine before cutting. THANKS FOR A GREAT RECIPE!!! I won’t make it often, but will bring out for special occassions -
Amazing! I followed some reviewers suggestions: 1- You don’t need parchment paper. Use disposable cake pans and spray them with non-stick spray. 2- I used 1 1/2 tablespoons almond extract added to the batter. 3- I added 1/4 cup cream and 2 tablespoons to the choc chips while melting so they wouldn’t crack when cut. Next time, I’ll skip the cream. It made the chips just a tad to liguid-y, almost like a frosting. Most important of all, resist the urge to try and speed up the chilling process. These cookies are better the next day. I’ll definitely be making these again – they taste better than from a bakery.
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This recipe is great, although there is an almost EXACT recipe on this site titled “Italian Wedding Cookies II”. The other recipe calls for a little more butter and it is NOT necessary to separate the eggs and DEF add almond extract. I have made these cookies countless times, and a word of advice to all those having trouble with the spreading: use 3 aluminum pans (usually 3 for 99 cents at the 99 cent store)and spray with ALOT of pam. When u spread the layers you will see the pam in the corners. THAT IS FINE. The aluminum allows you to bend, punch, or even cut out the layers. All three layers become perfectly the same size. Also dont worry about any indentations from the pan or a little mush from pam.. you will be covering it with chocolate anyway. These are pretty close to the bakeries in NYC and always go over big at a party!
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I tried my first rainbow cookie from a coworker recently, and immediately fell in love with it. Since she got them from a bakery in NY,and I live no where near there, I searched and found this recipe. The recipe was not all that complicated, the worst part was separating the dough into 3 parts and spreading it in the pans. I will add that it is VERY important to beat the egg whites and fold them into the batter, another reviewer stated that they opted not to do this part and that it is not necessary, but this step adds a much needed texture for these cookies!!! Something I would change would be to add more Almond Extract to the dough. I added about a teaspoon as one reviewer stated, but I think next time I will up it to one and a half or maybe even two. I used seedless raspberry preserves, and maybe I used too much, but it overwhelmed the almond cookie flavor, so I dont know if using jam instead of preserves would be less intense or not? My husband said they tasted like tiny jelly sandwiches and couldnt taste the “cookie” part which disappointed me because I thought these would be a hit. I added shortening to the melted chocolate and had no problem with it cracking when sliced. I am giving this recipe 4 stars, in the hopes that my next batch will turn out much better!!
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I did everything this recipe said to do and it did not work well for me. The consistency was like cookie dough and was next to impossible to spread into the pans. Once cooked and cooled, the layers were difficult to get out of the pans in one piece.
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These cookies are awesome! I used the almond filling like another person suggested and it was much easier to work with then the paste. Make a double batch cuz they will go quick!
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These cookies provide an absolute heavenly explosion of flavour! Almond, raspberry, and chocolate. What’s not to like?! I have to agree with other users who advise adding 1 tbsp of almond extract in the batter -it enhances the cookie dough beautifully. Melting the chocolate with the butter and heavy cream is also a must. The chocolate was firm , thick and fudgy. It did not crack at all.
I tinted the middle layer as well a nice peachy orange shade. All together, the 3 layers of pink, orange and green really make for a beautiful cookie.The only drawback I have about this recipe is that it is tough to spread the batter on the parchment paper in the pan. I’m hesitant to use spam though…
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Let me start by saying, I don’t cook much of anything and I surely don’t bake. But I do love Rainbow cookies like I used to get in NY. They cost nearly $2 per cookie around here which is outrageous and don’t taste as good as I remember. So I decided to make them myself. First time, non-baker, and they were right on the money. Everyone is asking me to make them some. I like the hint about adding butter and cream to the chocolate, if you don’t it is very hard and distracts from the cookie. These are great and well worth the work to make them. And if I can do it, anyone can. Yum!
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These are pretty close to the cookies I used to get in the NY bakeries. I did add 1 tsp almond extract and 1/4 tsp salt. Next time I will add 1 TBS almond extract for extra flavor. It was very hard to spread in the pans. I used 3 disposable cake pans like another reviewer suggested. They were only 8 1/2 by 11 1/2. I don’t think 9 by 13 would have fit the batter. It was hard enough to cover the bottom of a smaller pan. I also added 1 tsp corn syrup to the melted chocolate (melted in the microwave). I didn’t need to refrigerate it. It harded up very quickly and was easy to cut. I did also use a 7 oz tube of almond paste like other reviewer (it is all I could find). For the filling, I only used raspberry jam, that is what the cookies in the bakery have. Yum! Make a pretty addition to my holiday cookie boxes.
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