Italian Rainbow Cookies always catch our eye when we see them packaged at the store or behind the glass counter at bakeries. The truth is that the grocery store versions never live up to our expectations. These, however, blew us away. The almond flavor cakes are sandwiched between chocolate with layers of raspberry and apricot jam. The process for these will take some time, but that doesn’t mean they are difficult. They just require a lot of chilling, but that also helps you go at your own pace. They stay fresh for days, which makes them great for making ahead of time and it makes a lot so if you sneak a square or two before you plan on serving them no one will ever know! We have a few tips to help make these a success!
Use a stand mixer
If you have one that is. A stand mixer is more powerful than a hand mixer and it’s a lot easier to beat the almond paste (not marzipan!) and sugar together. A hand mixer will work, but will take a little longer. You want to try and break down the almond paste as much as you can here so that you don’t end up with chunks in your final product. Beat it until it’s broken down into pea-sized pieces.
Quarter sheet pans are helpful
We tested this recipe using both 9″-x-13″ and quarter sheet pans and both will work here. Quarter sheet pans are slightly smaller than a 9″-x-13″ letting you have slightly thicker cake layers and because of the shallow sides it’s a little easier to get your cake layers out of the pans. We know most home cooks are more likely to have 9″-x-13″ pans though so we wrote the recipe using those. Don’t worry if you don’t have 3 pans. You can bake in batches as you need to.
Don’t overcook your cake layers
Because the cake layers are so thin they bake quickly and this is easy to do. You are looking for layers that are no longer shiny and still soft when you gently poke with your finger. If you bake them for too long your layers could get really hard as they set up so be sure to pull them when they are still soft. They might look slightly underdone, but they will continue to set as they cool. Better to pull them a minute too soon than a minute too late.
Tempering your chocolate
This might be the most complicated step in the whole process, but it’s worth it. Tempering your chocolate will allow you to hold the cookies in your hand without it immediately melting into your fingers. The chocolate will hold up to warmer temperatures for longer making them much more enjoyable to eat.
You’ll need an instant read thermometer to check the temperature of your chocolate. Melt 3/4 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave, stirring after every 30 seconds. Once the chips are completely melted, starting checking the temperature. Aim for somewhere in between 113° and 118°. If you need to, you can microwave in 5 second bursts to help reach the temperature mark. It will take some patience. Once you hit 113° you’ll start “seeding” your chocolate. Do this by adding in the remaining half cup of chocolate of chips a little at a time. Stir until the chocolate completely melts before adding more and check your temperature after each addition. You need to get your chocolate down to 89°. Adding in more chocolate and stirring helps get it there quickly which is crucial for tempering chocolate. If you let it cool down naturally and at room temp it won’t set up correctly in the end. This is a method you can use on all of your chocolate coated desserts, like Oreo Truffles.
If you don’t want to temper your chocolate you can simply all of the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval until the chocolate is smooth. The chocolate layer on your cookies will melt more quickly in your hands, but will still be every bit as delicious.
Have you tried these yet? Let us know how it went in the comments below!