Red, White, & Blue Rainbow Cookies

Traditionally, red, white and green to represent the Italian Flag, Italian rainbow cookies made using almond paste as a base is a layered cookie filled with apricot jam and topped with chocolate on the top and bottom A.K.A the 7 layered cookie, I usually make these around the holidays at the end of the year, but I decided to reintroduce these for the 4th of July. Almost a Christmas in July situation but make it star-spangled. I layered these cookies with orange marmalade and topped them with a dark chocolate ganache.

Equipment:

Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer

Mixing Bowls

Baking Pans

Tips:

Use a toothpick to apply purple food coloring so the yellow in the batter is canceled out leaving a pristine white batter. 

Recipe:

3/4 cup sugar

7 oz. almond paste

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened and divided

4 eggs

¼ cup milk

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon red food coloring

¼ teaspoon blue food coloring

1 tiny drop purple food coloring (optional)

4 tablespoons orange marmalade, divided

Sprinkles

Chocolate Ganache:

1 cup dark chocolate

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon salted butter

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line three 10”x10” baking pans or three 9”x13” baking pans with parchment paper and coat with cooking spray. Set Aside.
2.  
3. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the whip attachment, add the almond paste and sugar and let it whip for 3-5 minutes to break up the almond paste. 
4. While the mixer is running add butter one stick at a time, letting each stick incorporate before adding the next. 
5. Let the almond paste, sugar, and butter whip for 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. 
6. Add eggs to a separate bowl and add vanilla and almond extracts.
7.  
8. Add egg and extract mixture to the mixer one at a time until all eggs are well combined with the butter, sugar, almond paste mixture. 
9. Next add half of the flour into the mixture and whip until the flour is incorporated, then add all of the milk and whip until well combined. 
10. Add the remainder of the flour and whip until the flour is incorporated and your batter is fluffy. 
11. Divide the batter into three bowls and add the food coloring to each bowl. 
12. Add your dyed cookie batters to your prepared baking pans and bake them for 23-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
13. Remove cookies from the oven and let cool completely in the pans. 
14. Freeze the layers for 20-30 minutes before removing from the pans. 
15. Remove two of the cookie layers from the pan, leaving the red or blue layer in one pan. 
16. Next, starting with the red or blue layer, add orange marmalade to the cookie layer and spread a thin layer, add an additional tablespoon of jam if needed. 
17. Place the white layer on top and spread more jam until the layer is fully covered. 
18. Top it with the red or blue cookie, pressing the layers down firmly. 
19. Cover with parchment paper, and another pan on top making sure the pan is pressing weight on top of those cookie layers. 
20. Add som heavy objects like unopened cans or jars and leave it for 4 hours or overnight. 
21. Take off all the heavy objects and your rainbow cookie layers should be flat. 
22. To make the chocolate ganache, place all ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 30-45 seconds in the microwave or until the heavy cream rises to the top. 
23. Take the bowl out and mix until the ganache is smooth. 
24. Immediately pour all of the ganache over the cookie layers and spread using an offset spatula, or spoon. 
25. Add sprinkles all over and refrigerate until the ganache is set. 
26. Slice up your rainbow cookies and enjoy.