Italian Rainbow Cookies

Gluten Free, Dairy Free. Contains Nuts

My mom used to buy Rainbow Cookies from a local Kosher bakery for my sister and I to eat as our Shabbat treat every Saturday morning. We both loved marzipan, so naturally, these were our favorite cookies (or as we referred to them as “Rainbow Cake”). We liked when my mom sliced each layer so that we could eat one color at a time. It also helped us enjoy them more slowly so they would last longer!

Yield: 36 Cookies

4 sticks vegan butter (Like Earth Balance)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups almond paste
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp almond extract
6 eggs
2 cups plus 4 tbsp Blends by Orly Sydney Blend
Liquid food coloring (Red, Yellow and Green)
4 cups apricot jam
12 oz bag semisweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp vegetable oil

Heat: Preheat oven to 350 F and spray three 8x8” pans with cooking spray and line them with parchment paper.

Mix: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the vegan butter and the sugar. Add the almond paste, salt and almond extract, and mix together for 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until the eggs are thouroughly beaten into the batter. Add the flour to the wet ingredients, and mix for 3 minutes, until the flour is fully incorporated into the mixture.

Divide the batter evenly into 3 bowls. Drop a few drops of food coloring into each bowl. If the color isn’t dark enough after mixing, add a few more drops and mix. Spread each color batter into it’s own baking pan. Use an offset spatula to spread the batter evenly. You should have three baking pans, each with a different colored batter.

Bake: For 12-14 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before assembling your rainbow cake.

Assemble: Flip the red cake pan over on to a cake plate or tray, and peel off the parchment paper. Spread a layer of the apricot jam evenly. Repeat with the yellow layer. Flip the cake over on top of the pink layer, and remove the parchment paper. Spread a layer of the jam evenly. Finally, flip the green layer and place it over the yellow layer. Peel off the parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate chips and the oil in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds at a time and then stir in between to prevent the chocolate from burning. Use a spatula to spread the chocolate layer evenly on top of the green cake layer. Allow the chocolate to partially set (not completely) and make cut marks through the chocolate and a bit through the top layer. After the chocolate hardens, you can slice each rainbow cookie with a sharp knife where you made the cut marks previously, so that the chocolate top layer doesn’t crack and break.