when i was a kid i got sooooo excited when i went somewhere that had rainbow cookies. (those and florentine lace cookies, which i intend to make soon) then my sister started making them when i must have been in middle school. can you believe, rainbow cookies in my own home?! since then i have wanted to make them but either didn’t get around to it or maybe i was intimidated.
my sister has given me the recipe several times, and this time i didn’t misplace it, but instead i decided to actually make them! the process was a lot easier than i expected, and the only place i messed up was following the directions of another recipe i had found for these cookies online– to refrigerate the cookies overnight. something didn’t sound right about leaving them out on the counter all night, but i am pretty sure that is the reason my sister is able to cut hers nicely and mine did this:
after the disaster of the first two rows i let them sit out for a few hours at room temperature in hopes that it would make them easier to cut…. no dice. i read on a couple sites that if you freeze them they are easier to cut, but 1. the colder they were the harder it seemed, 2. the freezer was full, and 3. at this point if i froze them just to cut them it would take hours to get them back to room temperature to be eaten, and i wanted to serve them at work.
the good news is that they tasted wonderful! they were definitely delicious and got great reviews…and they even got some publicity, as mastercard was shooting a video in my office that day and our diversity director made the crew try them and he was asking me about my website on film. sure, that will end up on the metaphorical cutting room floor, but hey, maybe a couple of the editors will check out my site (hi!!!).
Recipe:
1 (8oz)can almond paste 1 cup of sugar
4 eggs separated 1 tsp almond extract
1 ½ cups margarine 2 cups of flour
¼ tsp salt red food coloring
1(12oz)jar of apricot preserves green food coloring
2 bags of chocolate chips
Grease 13x9x2 pan and line with wax paper. Break up almond paste in large bowl with fork. Add margarine, sugar, egg yolks. Almond extract to almond paste. Beat until light and fluffy (4 min). beat in flour and salt. Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff. With wooden spoon stir into almond mixture using a motion similar to folding (I use a rubber scraper). Remove 1 ½ cups of batter and spread into pan. Remove another 1 ½ cups and add green food coloring . repeat with red food coloring. Bake @350 for 15-20 minutes. Remove cake immediately. Cool. Place layers on a board with preserves between the layers of cake. Place another board and pot of water on top of the layers over night. I usually use cookie sheets or cutting boards. Melt chocolate and spread on top. Cover with sprinkles (optional)
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
[...] i’ll admit it: i have issues. i want my tasty treats to look tasty…is that so wrong? while i completely understand that things can taste good even when they don’t look good, i have also learned that presentation is important, especially if i want to make money. my other issue, apparently, is that i can’t figure out the correct amount of time to let something chill before slicing. sometimes i cut too soon and end up with layers mixing, which is admittedly better than when i wait too long, which you can see here, as well as my disfigured yet delicious rainbow cookies. [...]