Italian Tricolor Cookies (Rainbow Cookies)

By ddma_34d

Although time consuming ,these cookies are easy to make and well worth the time and energy.Mmmmmmmm

Ingredients

• 1 tube or can (7-8 oz) almond paste ,broken into small pieces
• 1 cup butter,softened (1 stick)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 3 lg eggs
• 1 cup all purpose flour1 tsp salt
• 15 drops red food coloring
• 15 drops green food coloring
• 2/3 cup apricot preserves (or any flavor you like)
• 3 OZ. semi sweet chocolate
• 1 tsp vegetable shortening

Details

Servings 36

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 8x8 disposable or metal baking pans with parchment paper, grease and flour parchment paper.

In large bowl,with mixer at med-high speed, beat almond paste with butter, sugar, and almond extract, until well blended (there will be some lumps of almond paste remaining). Reduce speed to medium;beat in eggs, one at a time until well blended. Reduce speed to low; beat in flour and salt just until combined.

Transfer 1/3 of batter (about 1 rounded cup) to small bowl. Transfer 1 of remaining batter to another small bowl.(You should have equal amounts of batter in each bowl). Stir red food coloring into 1 bowl of batter until evenly blended. Repeat with green food coloring and another bowl of batter,leaving 1 bowl untinted. (Batters may still have small lumps of almond paste remaining).

Spoon untinted batter into 1 pan. with metal spatula (offset if possible), spread batter evenly (layer will be about 1 inch thick). Repeat with red batter in second pan. repeat with green batter in remaining pan.

Bake layers on 2 oven racks 10-12 minutes,rotating pans between upper and lower racks halfway through baking time, until layers are set and toothpick inserted in center of layers comes out clean.

Cool in pans on wire racks 5 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen layers. Invert layers onto racks, leaving parchment paper attached;cool completely.

When layers are cool, press apricot preserves through coarse sieve into small bowl to remove any arge pieces of fruit. Remove parchment paper from green layer. Invert green layer onto flat plate or small cutting board;spread with half of preserves. Remove parchment paper from untinted layer, invert onto green layer. Spread with remaining preserves. Remove parchment paper from red layer;invert onto untinted layer.

In a 1 quart saucepan,heat chocolate with shortening over low heat until melted, stirring frequently.Spread melted chocolate mixture on top of red layer (not on sides); refrigerate until chocolate is firm at least 1 hour. If you like,after chocolate has set,cover and refrigerate stacked layers up to 3 days before cutting and serving.

To serve, with serrated knife,trim edges (about 1 inch from each side). Cut stacked layers into 6 strips. cut each strip crosswise into 6 pieces. store cookies in single layer, in tightly covered container in refrigerator up to one week, or in freezer up to 3 months.