The Best Italian Rainbow Cookies Ever

The star of any Italian bakery (and always a star during the holiday season for me), Italian Rainbow Cookies are made with three colorful layers of almond sponge cake with a thin layer of jam between them, and coated in chocolate. They truly are one of the best cookies on the planet.

Looking for more holiday recipes? Check these out:

• Italian Ricotta Cookies
• Linzer Cookies
• Holiday Cranberry Moscow Mule

What are Italian Rainbow Cookies?

Also known as Seven Layer Cookies, Italian Rainbow Cookies are said to have been invented by Italian immigrants in New York who were missing a bit of home — hence these cookies traditionally are the colors of the Italian flag.

Italian Rainbow Cookie Ingredients

Here’s everything you’ll need to make these classic cookies:

Flour: I use all-purpose flour

Almond paste: To give these cookies their signature flavor

Apricot jam: Or raspberry jam (or both!)

Egg whites: Whipped into stiff peaks

Egg yolks: For richness

Vanilla and almond extracts: For flavor

Granulated sugar: For sweetness

Unsalted butter: Softened

Salt: To make everything sing

Red and green food color: To create the colorful sponge cakes

Semi-sweet chocolate chips: Can also sub dark chocolate (it’s SO good!)

How to Make Italian Rainbow Cookies

Now there are quite a few steps (and an over-nighter) to get these cookies done. Nothing is particularly difficult, it’s just a bit time-consuming.

But I promise if you follow my directions you’ll master these Italian Rainbow Cookies.

Step 1: Prep your ingredients

And by prep, I really mean get some key ingredients to room temperature.

During this stage, I’ll separate my eggs (they always separate easier when cold), and set my butter out to come to room temp.

I’ll also preheat my own to 365 degrees F during this time.

Step 2: Break up your almond paste

Now some recipes will have you do this step in your stand mixer (and I have done that before!), but I find that it doesn’t break up the almond paste ENOUGH for me and always leaves me with some chunks that you can see in the batter. Annoying!

To get around this, I break up my almond paste in a food processor.

So, if you want to do it this way, add your almond paste to a food processor and break up your almond paste. Once it’s in little beads, add ¾ of a cup of granulated sugar, and set the processor on high for about 45 seconds, or until everything is combined. Set aside.

Step 3: Whisk your egg whites

Now add your egg whites to the bowl of a standing mixer. With the whisk attached, begin whisking your eggs on low. After a few seconds, increase the speed until you’re whisking at medium-high. After about 30 seconds to 1 minute, start slowly pouring ¼ cup of granulated sugar directly into the egg whites while they’re whisking.

Keep going until shiny stiff peaks form and the mixture doesn’t move if you hold the bowl upside down — about 5 minutes or so. Once done, pour the whisked egg whites into another bowl and set aside.

Step 4: Combine the almond paste and butter

Wipe down the mixing bowl and dump in the softened butter and the almond paste.

Swap out the whisk for the paddle attachment.

Starting on low, begin incorporating the butter and the almond paste. Once it’s combined enough to not be a total mess, increase the speed to medium-high and continue for about 3 minutes, or until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy, making sure to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula (you can shut off the mixer to do this).

Step 5: Add the wet ingredients

Now, with the mixer on, slowly put in the four egg yolks, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Let that mix until well combined.

Step 6: Add the dry ingredients

Drop the speed to low and begin adding the flour a little at a time (I like to do ½ cup, ½ cup, the salt, ½ cup, ½ cup, and ¼ cup). Make sure the shut the mixer and scrape down the sides as needed to make sure everything is getting incorporated.

Once done, shut off the mixer and remove the bowl.

Step 7: Add the egg whites to the batter

Now get your egg whites, take a scoop, and add it to the batter. Mix it up to moisten the batter. Then, add the rest of the egg whites and gently fold them into the batter, making sure not to take out all of the air.

Step 8: Separate and color your batters

Get two extra bowls (I usually use the same bowl I used for the egg whites and a new bowl) and separate the batter to be relatively equal in each bowl (so ⅓ batter in the mixing bowl, ⅓ batter in the egg white bowl, ⅓ batter in a new bowl).

Once separated, keep one plain, and then add drops of green to one bowl and drops of red to the third bowl and stir so that the batter becomes that color.

*Note: I don’t have a set amount of drops here. I just add a bit, stir, and add more until I get to the shade of green or red I’m looking for.

Step 9: Add the batter to the baking pans

Now I use the same three aluminum 9×13 baking pans (and I reuse them all the time for my rainbows!).

Spray each pan with a bit of cooking spray, and then pour each color into one of the pans. Use a spatula to spread out the batter to make sure it takes up the entire bottom of the pans in an even layer.

Note: Don’t worry if these look thin! They will. But we’re going to layer them later on to form our cookie.

Step 10: Bake the cakes

I like to bake each cake individually on the middle rack for ~10 minutes, or until the edges are beginning to brown and the center is set (it may be a little soft in the middle, but as long as it isn’t shiny you’re good to go). Let all cakes cool completely.

I’ve tried baking multiple at once (or on two different racks) and I found that they bake unevenly. You can try this if you’d like, though!

Note: If the edges get too brown, don’t sweat it. We’re going to be cutting the borders off of the cakes anyway later on.

Step 11: Layer the cakes

Now find a large baking sheet and add parchment paper to the bottom.

Take the green, cooled cake and use a knife to gently run across the edges (just to help the cakes free up more easily). I also like to bend the aluminum pan back and forth a little bit to free up the cake.

Once ready, flip the cake directly onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Tap the bottom of the pan to make sure the cake releases. If any pieces are a little cracked, just press them together. They’ll be fine!

Now take some apricot jam (about ¼ cup) and use a spatula to spread it all across the cake in a thin layer.

Once ready, take the white cake and repeat the same process. Knife around the edges, bend, flip, tap, jam (this time I like to do raspberry jam!).

Note: If the cake doesn’t flip DIRECTLY on top of the previous layer, no worries. Just use your hands to glide it so that it’s directly over the previous cake. If the cake is cracked at all, don’t worry. It will all work out once it sets.

When ready, flip the red cake. Don’t add jam.

Step 12: Let the layers rest overnight

Now I like to wrap the entire cake (baking sheet and all) in plastic wrap. I then take a small baking sheet and put it on top (this will help the cake smoosh together).

Now add the cake to the top shelf in your fridge, and add heavy cans on top (like tomato cans or whatever else you have).

Let that sit in the refrigerator overnight.

Step 13: Coat the cake with TEMPERED chocolate

Now it’s time to cover the cake in chocolate!

Now I’ve seen some recipes where they simply ask you to heat up some chocolate in the microwave and spread it on top — but sorry, that just doesn’t work well every time, and sometimes you’ll have weird chocolate that blooms or just doesn’t fully set. No THANK YOU.

So we’re going to temper ours — but don’t worry, we’ll going to temper it SO easily.

First I’ll need you to remove the cake, the tomato cans, and the plastic wrap. Just have your cake ready on the baking sheet with one free side.

Once ready, take ¾ of a cup of chocolate chips in a bowl. Blast it for 20-second bursts in the microwave, stirring between each set. This should take 3-4 rounds until the chocolate is melted.

Now we’re going to bring the temperature down by seeding the melted chocolate with ¼ cup of chocolate chips. Dump these in and stir until all of the new chocolate is also melted and the chocolate is a bit thickened.

Once melted, add it back to the microwave to let the temperature rise slightly for 10 seconds. Now you’re ready! Pour the chocolate onto the cake and use a spatula to spread it out into an even and thin layer.

Now place your cake back into the fridge to set for 30 minutes.

Remove the cake and, using a second baking sheet, flip the cake onto the second one so that the chocolate side is face down and the parchment paper side is face up. Remove the parchment paper and repeat the tempering process with another cup of chocolate chips.

Once that chocolate layer is added, put the cake back in the fridge to set for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Step 13: Cut the rainbow cookies

Cutting rainbows can be tricky, but I’ve finally mastered how to do it.

I boil a bit of water and let a serrated knife sit in it. When ready to cut the chilled cake, I use the hot knife to first trim the cake and then cut it into ~1 inch strips. After that, I cut those strips into the perfect little Italian Rainbow Cookies you know and love.