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Epicurious

Italian Rainbow Cookies

4.6

(117)

Almond paste cookies with chocolate and red and green food coloring on a serving platter.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Tiffany Schleigh

No one knows exactly where Italian rainbow cookies came from, but everyone’s happy when they show up on the dessert table. Also known as Venetians, tricolor cookies, and seven-layer cookies, these cake-like confections are typically credited to Italian American immigrants in the New York area circa 1900. Some say the colorful cakes mirror the green, white, and red of the Italian flag. Others theorize that a similarly vibrant Sicilian dessert, gelato di Campagna, was a precursor.

This Italian rainbow cookie recipe produces a buoyant, sophisticated confection with deep almond flavor. Customize it by swapping seedless raspberry preserves for the apricot; dye the cake layers in an ombré of red or green for Christmas; or ditch the gel food coloring entirely so the entire almond cake retains its natural creamy hue. One area where it’s best to stick to the recipe as written is the melted chocolate. Using chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate bars rather than milk chocolate or chocolate chips keeps the flavors balanced and texture silky. Store the rainbow cookies in airtight containers at room temperature for up to two weeks.

Want to go big this holiday season? Turn rainbow cookies into a sliceable tricolor loaf cake →

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