Italian Rainbow Cookies Are The Perfect Holiday Cookie!
Allow me to introduce you to our absolute favorite cookie: Italian rainbow cookies! I think our family likes them so much because they’re actually cake. You know… disguised as cookies. (But wait, if you’re looking for an actual Italian rainbow cookie cake, you’ve gotta check this recipe out!)
We have been making these Italian rainbow cookies for years — they take a while, but oh my god they are so worth it.
This tri color cookie recipe is even better than what you’d buy at an Italian bakery. Seriously, these are loved by all!
What’s In Italian Rainbow Cookies?
This rainbow cookie recipe may require some extra TLC to assemble, but the ingredients list is minimal.
All you need to make Italian rainbow cookies are eggs (separate the whites from the egg yolks), sugar, almond paste, butter, salt, food coloring, and raspberry preserves. And semi-sweet chocolate to top it all off, of course.
You’ll start by beating egg whites over medium speed until soft peaks form. Place those in a second bowl before you move onto the next step. The whipped egg whites will get folded into the almond batter, giving the cookies a light, airy texture.
Can I Make Italian Rainbow Cookies Without Almond Paste?
Besides switching up the flavor of jam used between the layers, I don’t recommend swapping out any of the ingredients mentioned above. Italian rainbow cookies are perfect as is — why mess with a good thing? Also, the almond paste gives these cookies their signature flavor. You can buy some online here.
How To Make Rainbow Cookies
- Divide the batter equally in thirds, each in their own large bowl.
- Add food coloring to create red and green layers, mixing well until the batter is a single solid color.
- Bake them off one-by-one. This is honestly the most difficult part — spreading a very small amount of batter into thin, single layers on rimmed baking sheets. But it’s necessary for the signature look of Italian tri color cookies.
Bake the cookies on a single piece of parchment paper. No need to spray the parchment with cooking spray or baking spray!
Once cool, spread a few tablespoons of your favorite jam in between the cookie layers. In the Well Seasoned household, this is always raspberry jam. However, apricot jam is another popular option. Heck, you could do one layer of each!
Next, store overnight in your refrigerator, weighing down with a couple heavy cookbooks on top (yes, really).
The next day, pour melted semisweet chocolate chips on both sides, allow the chocolate to harden, then transfer to a cutting board and slice into the cutest little bite-size cookies you’ve ever seen. These are our go-to gift for friends, family, and loved ones during the holiday season.
Read through the instructions fully before beginning (you should do this whenever cooking, but especially when baking), and try not to be put off by the lengthy text. Your hard work will be rewarded with almost 100 cookies. And there are lots of scraps for nibbling on along the way!
How To Store Italian Rainbow Cookies
Rainbow cookies should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. Of course, that’s only if you and your kid can keep your hands off them long enough not to eat them all at once…
How Long Do Rainbow Cookies Last?
If stored properly, Italian rainbow cookies will last up to a week in the fridge. This recipe makes a lot of cookies (yield is 96 rainbow cookies!), so you’ll definitely want to give some as gifts (these are a perfect Christmas cookie!) or freeze for later!
To freeze rainbow cookies, layer in an airtight container with sheets of parchment in between (so the cookies don’t stick together). Allow cookies to defrost for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Tips For Making Italian Rainbow Cookies
The combination of almond paste and almond extract is what gives rainbow cookies their unique flavor and texture. You can’t get away with using ONLY paste or the extract — you must use both.
With that said, I don’t recommend adding more almond paste or extract than what the recipe calls for. Unlike the more forgiving vanilla extract, you really need to measure out almond extract, otherwise it’ll overpower whatever it is you’re baking.
To make cutting rainbow cookies easier, you’ll want to use a serrated knife that’s been run under hot water first. Trust me on this one! And those scraps that are left on the cutting board? Eat those!! Do not throw them away!
Dairy Free Rainbow Cookies
Can Italian rainbow cookies be made dairy free? Yes! We had a reader test our exact recipe substituting only the butter with Miyokos vegan butter and they turned out perfect!
One bite and we’re certain you’ll agree, this is the best tri color cookie recipe ever, period the end. If you make our Italian Rainbow Cookies, please let us know by leaving a review below! Trust us — your friends and family will thank you for sharing the love!!
And make sure to sign up for our newsletter and follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook for more Well Seasoned recipes! DON’T FORGET to tag us on social channels when you make a recipe at #wellseasonedstudio !! We LOVE seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
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Italian Rainbow Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer with whisk and paddle attachments
- Small offset spatula
- 4 medium mixing bowls
- Parchment and/or wax paper
- 9×13 quarter sheet pan (at least 1, but up to 3)
- 2 heavy books to weigh down the cookies
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs separated
- 1 cup sugar divided
- 8 ounces almond paste or a 7-oz tube
- 1 ¼ cups 2 ½ sticks unsalted butter softened
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- red food coloring
- green food coloring
- 10 ounces raspberry preserves warmed
- 7 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks, chips, or melting wafers
Instructions
- Prepare the sheet pans. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 F. Grease, flour, and line the bottoms of three 9×13 (quarter sheet pan) with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang.
- Beat egg whites. In the bowl of a standard electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat 4 egg whites at medium-high speed until they just hold stiff peaks. With the mixer running on high speed, add ¼ cup sugar a little at a time, beating until whites hold stiff, glossy peaks, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to another bowl, and wipe the bowl dry with a paper towel.
- Mix sugar and almond paste. Switch the mixer to the paddle attachment and beat together the almond paste and remaining ¾ cup sugar until well-mixed, about 3 minutes. Start with the mixer on slow, then increase speed to medium, otherwise the mixture will fly out of the bowl.
- Incorporate butter. Add 2 ½ sticks softened butter and beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 4 egg yolks and 1 tsp almond extract and beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add 2 cups flour and ½ tsp Kosher salt, mixing until just combined.
- Fold in egg whites. Fold half of the egg white mixture into the almond mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.
- Divide batter among 3 bowls. We recommend weighing the batter on a food scale, then dividing equally in thirds into three separate bowls.
- Color the cookies. Stir 6-8 drops of red food coloring into one bowl and 6-8 drops of green food coloring into another, leaving the third bowl plain. Different food colorings have different intensities. Keep in mind the batter will bake up darker than it looks raw. Pour the batter from one of the bowls into one of the prepared pans. Using a small offset spatula, spread the batter into an even layer. It will be extremely thin, but there is enough!
- Bake the individual layers. Bake the layer for 8 to 10 minutes, until just set (the cake may look undercooked, but this is what you want). Repeat with the remaining bowls of cake batter and sheet pans, transferring each baked cake to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Assemble the layers with preserves. When all the layers are cool, invert the green layer onto a parchment- or wax paper-lined baking sheet. Peel off the paper from the layer and brush on half of the heated preserves. Flip the white layer on top of the green layer and peel off the paper. Spread with remaining preserves. Invert the red layer on top of white layer and discard the paper.
- Chill overnight. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place another quarter sheet pan on top, right side up. Evenly distribute a heavy weight on top of the sheet pan — I place heavy cookbooks on top! — and place in the fridge to chill for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Bring the cake to room temperature. Remove the weights and plastic wrap and let the layer sit on your counter for a few minutes to come to room temperature. Melt the chocolate wafers in a microwave-safe bowl in 30-second increments, until smooth.
- Pour on melted chocolate. Trim the edges of the assembled layers with a long serrated knife to even them out. Use a small offset spatula to quickly (like REALLY quickly) spread half of the melted chocolate in a thin layer on top of the cake. Place the cake back in the fridge to firm up the chocolate, about 10-15 minutes. Place a sheet of wax paper on top of the chocolate layer, place another quarter sheet pan on top, then invert the cake and remove the paper. Quickly spread with the remaining chocolate. Freeze the chocolate-covered cake until just slightly firm, about 10 minutes.
- Slice cookies. Cut lengthwise into 6 strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 16 pieces. The cookies are much easier to cut when cold, but if they're completely frozen solid (like you forget them in the freezer and came back to them the next day), allow to thaw slightly or the chocolate will crack as you slice into it.
- The cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.
Video
Notes
- To freeze: store baked, sliced Italian rainbow cookies between layers of parchment paper in freezer-safe containers. Cookies will keep up to 3 months.
- To defrost: allow cookies to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving. The cake layers defrost pretty quickly!
Nutrition
*Recipe adapted slightly from Nina Caldas via Food52.
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Oh my gosh, these are so fun to make and so so delicious. they’d make such a great gift. I made them for me though, so now I have a big stash of these cookies and might just have one with every cuppa from here on 🙂 Thanks for wonderful recipe, Ari
Marie, thank you!!! These are my absolute favorite cookies to make and gift during holiday! We usually make a few batches and gift to the kids’ teachers and our close friends. I’m so glad you enjoyed them as well! xo, Ari
Made these for my VERY Italian family (like my dad is off the boat Sicilian) and they LOVED them. I’m absolutely obsessed with this recipe and will probably never buy from a bakery ever again. Simple instructions and the flavor is so on point!!! I can’t rave about this recipe enough.
Alyssa, this is the best!!! We are crazy in love with this too, and are always so glad it makes enough to feed an army (or a large Italian family lol). Thanks for the review! xo, Ari
Absolutely delicious cookies. I loved the step-by-step photos. Such an awesome Christmas cookie plate cookie since this recipe makes so many!! Can’t wait to make it again!
So, so glad these turned out well!! Rainbow cookies are so perfect for holiday gifting and AGREE, the best part is that it makes so many!! xo, Ari
Easy to follow recipe and these came out delicious.I have never had these before and wanted to try something new.
Love hearing this, Jody! Thanks for making the cookies and leaving a review! xo, Ari
I can’t rave enough about how delicious this cookie recipe is. They make a good sized batch but they won’t last long. I bought quite a few of my ingredients from Europe and since I got enough almond paste left over i am making another batch tonight. So glad this was the first recipe I tried now its my go to forever.
Thanks, Mary! It’s absolutely one of our family’s favorites as well. It takes time, but they’re definitely not hard to make. That flavor and texture can’t be beat! xo, Ari
This recipe allowed my cousins to relive some of the best memories of their late father and Grandmother in NY. I cut the cookies into an 8×8″ cake plus cut lots of cookies that I shared with friends and neighbors. Everyone absolutely loved it! I substituted Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 flour to make the cake gluten-free as one of my cousins has Celiac disease. The texture was still perfect. I also doubled the recipe as I made my own almond paste (incredibly fast and easy) and it made 12 oz. of almond paste. This enabled me to pour an extra layer of cake (may not be traditional, but the purple, teal, plain, and pink layers were very pretty) and increase the height of the other cake layers by a very small amount. This recipe took time, but it was easy to follow and well worth all the effort. P.S. If you serve this as a cake, buttercream decorations make this even more decadent.
This all sounds fantastic, Catherine! Love that you were able to make these gluten-free friendly. And yes, it definitely takes a little foresight and planning ahead, but definitely easy to tackle. Thanks so much for the review!! xo, Ari
These are delicious! Everyone I gave them to loved them. I felt the pressure giving these to a big, very Italian family but they were all impressed! Definitely want to make these again.
The layers with the food coloring need to be cooked longer because of the extra liquid I’m guessing… mine came out raw in the spots and I had a piece it together😞 the white layer was fine. I would say cook the colored ones 2-3 minutes longer.
Hi Michaela, so sorry to hear this. I’ve made this recipe dozens of times and never had that experience (and have not received that feedback from others who have made it, either in person or who have left reviews here). I would advise folks to stick with the cook time as written in the instructions, but check the cake (as you would for any baking recipe) to make sure it’s done. The food coloring should not affect the cook time. More likely it’s variation in oven temperature or location of the sheet pan in the oven. Best, Ari
Hi I love the recipe but my layers are SO thin. Did this happen to anyone else? I used a 9×13 pan too.
Hi Beth! Thanks for posting and voicing your concern. Admittedly, the spreading of the cake layers is the most labor intensive part of the recipe, but yes they should be thin! There is in fact a video of the whole process. You can access the video here for ease. Hope this helps! xo, Ari
Can I leave the cakes in the fridge (with heavy cookbooks on top) for 24 hours? Or is that too long? Also, what are quarter sheet pans? Can I use a 9×13 baking dish? Or a sheet pan?
Hi Caelyn! You can absolutely refrigerate for 24 hours. That’s no problem at all. The weighing down of the cake layers is to help ensure that each layer doesn’t slide around. They might slide around if there’s too much raspberry jam or if they haven’t been pressed long enough. The only time you could possibly go “too far” with refrigeration or freezing of the cookies is after you pour the melted chocolate on top. So a word to the wise (and yes this is written in the post, as well): spread the melted chocolate very, very quickly! You’re spreading hot chocolate on a refrigerated (or frozen) cake. The chocolate will harden extremely fast. You want it spread over the entire top layer before it firms up. Once the chocolate is on both sides and you return the cookies to the freezer to set up for a few minutes, don’t leave them in too long. Otherwise, when you go to slice the cookies, the chocolate will crack. Obviously doesn’t change the taste, but it will have the appearance of, well… cracked chocolate haha.
This is the exact 9×13 quarter sheet pan I use. No baking dish needed, but note that it is not a standard ½ size sheet pan, it’s the smaller one!
The last thing I’ll say is that each time you make these, it gets easier. The most challenging part is spreading the thin layers of the cake onto the parchment-lined sheet pan for baking, because there’s juuuuust enough batter to reach the edges, and it will be very thin. But once you get that down, the rest is pretty straight forward. Enjoy, and please report back to let me know what you think! xo, Ari
These were a huge hit! Our favorite cookies were fun to make and much easier than I thought they’d be. Your directions were spot on. My family thought they were better than any we’ve gotten at a bakery, and there’s plenty left over to share.
They are the MOST fun cookies to make!! Thrilled you love them too! xo, Ari