Italian Rainbow Cookies

Today I will take you on a pictorial journey showing you the step by step process of making  Italian Rainbow Cookies, a confection made with layers of brightly colored, almond-based sponge cake, apricot and/or raspberry jam, and a chocolate coating. This journey will not take long, but if you choose to actually venture to make these, set aside a good couple of hours and some patience.  This was my first attempt and happily discovered these were not difficult to make, just very time consuming.  The recipe source I used is from Bon Appetit, their printable recipe is here:  http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/05/rainbow-cookies  These cookies are also known as Italian Flag cookies because the colors resemble the Italian Flag.

 

**Special Equipment and ingredients:  you will need 3 13 x 9 x 2" metal baking pans; almond paste - which is quite expensive,  by me 1- 7oz tube was $6.99!

Ingredients:

4 sticks unsalted butter, cubed and at room temp

6 large eggs, whites and yolks separated

1 1/3 cups sugar divided

12 oz almond paste, broken up (a little less then 1 1/2 7 oz tubes)

2 3/4 cups plus 1 Tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp salt

1 tsp red food coloring

1 tsp green food coloring

3/4 cup raspberry jam (or apricot)

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped and melted - wait to melt when your ready to finish off the cookies

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line your 3 pans with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang, spray pans generously with baking spray.  Put egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk and beat until soft peaks form.  Slowly add 1/3 cup of the sugar, beating until stiff peaks form, like below. Transfer to a large bowl, cover and chill. Using the paddle attachment beat the almond paste and remaining sugar on med-low until incorporated, 4-5 mins.  Increase speed to med-high, gradually add butter, beat until fluffy.  Beat in yolks, then flour and salt.  Fold in whites in 2 additions.  The batter will be very thick.

Divide batter evenly among 3 bowls (as evenly as you can, I weighed mine to get them as close as possible). Mix red coloring into 1 bowl and green coloring into second bowl; leave third bowl plain.  Spread 1 bowl of batter into each prepared pan, smoothing tops with an offset spatula.  Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until just set 9-10 mins.  Let cool in pans.

When completely cooled, start the layering:  with a pastry brush spread half of the jam over the green cake - I used all raspberry on both layers - but you can use apricot or orange marmalade or a combination of these.    

Now carefully, using the foil overhang, lift plain layer of pan and invert onto green layer, discard foil.

Yes, did it!  Then brush remaining jam over plain layer.  

Carefully, again, lift the red layer out of pan using the overhang and invert onto the plain layer 

Cover cake with foil and top with a 13x9x2 pan.  Weigh down pan with several heavy canned goods to compress the cake layers.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.

Remove cans, top and foil.  Transfer cake to a waxed paper lined baking sheet.  Spread half of the melted chocolate over cake in a thin layer using an offset spatula. Then freeze for 10 mins.  Cover with waxed paper, and invert the baking sheet on top and flip the cake.  Uncover and glaze with remaining chocolate, then freeze an additional 10 mins.

It looks a little messy at this point (so does my kitchen - don't look, it's very busy this time of year!!), but don't fear, we are going to trim it next and make it look all neat :)

With a good serrated knife trim off edges to make the cake approx 12 x 8"

Don't throw those edges out, save them to eat!

Then cut into six 2" wide strips, look how neat they are looking, like real rainbow cookies!!

Then cut each strip crosswise into 96 1/2 " wide cookies (2" x 1/2" cookies).  Store in an airtight container.

 

All my rainbow cookie lover friends and family loved these and were quite impressed!  

Don't be intimated by the process it was fun and very worth it. 

Enjoy! 

Pecan Meltaways

A soft buttery, nutty cookie smothered in confectioners sugar makes a perfect holiday treat.  I can't stop eating these, so I try to give them away for the holidays.  You may not be able to either, so I suggest you give these away too, your family and friends will love you.  The best part is they are easy and no fuss to make!

This recipe yields about 36 cookies:
2 sticks unsalted butter (8oz), softened
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups finely chopped pecans (I chop them in the food processor)
Lots of confectioners sugar (sifted) for rolling in (about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed cream together the butter and sugar for 1 minute. Then add 1/2 the flour, vanilla and 1 Tbsp water, beat until combined, then add remaining flour and beat till thoroughly combined.  Blend in the pecans on low speed till evenly incorporated.  Shape batter into 1 inch balls or use a small cookie scoop to form the balls.  Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake in oven about 20 mins or till bottoms are lightly browned.  Let cool on a wire rack.  Gently shake cooled cookies in a bag with confectioners sugar and serve or prepare in gift tins.  Makes about 36 cookies.

 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches ~ AKA Chipwich

I recently enjoyed a Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich from the ice cream man- 2 big chocolate chip cookies sandwiching a big gob of vanilla ice cream.  What a lovely combination I thought as I enjoyed bite after bite and segwayed into my second sandwich.  If I wanted to enjoy this simple pleasure again though, what would I do?  As they are not readily available in supermarkets and the ice cream man is not coming around any more with fall creeping up on us.  Make my own at home, that's what I could do!  So I set out to make these, semi-homemade ~ take your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (mine's below) and sandwich them with a good vanilla ice cream 
  

Chocolate Chip Cookies - makes 1 dozen cookies - enough for 6 sandwiches

1 1/4 cups flour

1 1/8 tsp baking soada

 1 1/8 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 gran sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 lg egg, room temp

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together, set aside.  In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream together the butter, vanilla and sugars on med until light and fluffy about 3 mins.  Add the egg, and blend.  On low add the dry ingredients in 2 additions, scraping the bowl after each, mix on low until blended, add the chocolate chips and mix until combined.  Using a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop, scoop batter into baking pan about 2 inches apart.  Bake @350 degrees for 13-15 mins.  The cookies should be golden brown around the edges but still light in center.  Cool cookies on a wire rack.  Once cooled lay out cookies on wax paper and start assembling the ice cream sandwiches.  Turn over 1/2 the cookies and scoop a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each bottom.  Press the top cookie gently onto the ice cream   

Then wrap each sandwich in saran wrap and place finished cookies in freezer to harden up.  Once completely frozen place wrapped cookies in a freezer safe bag, ready for eating whenever the craving hits.

They're even better then the ones from the ice cream man!

Enjoy!

Pecan Treats from the Gourmet Cookie Book

   

Did you know that I liked pecans?  Well I do a lot.   I like them in chocolates, in coffee cakes, in pralines, in pies, in apple desserts, in cheesecakes, in icecream, in bars, in cookies . . . . ok, you get the point :)

When I first got my hands on this cookbook "The Gourmet Cookie Book - The single best recipe from each year 1941-2009", I scoured the pages and flagged about 20 recipes, including: chocolate coconut squares, pecan tassies, mocha toffee bars, strawberry tart cookies, cranberry turtle bars, dutch caramel cashew cookies, 
greek butter cookies, linzer bars, and mini black and white cookies just to name a few - there are so many good ones! Guess what I found from the year 1981?  Cloudt's Pecan Treats!!  They looked like pecan pie bars but are more like a candy, the author describes them this way:  "The enormously rich and nutty squares will remind you of a French nut tart, but they require a fraction of the effort." Needless to say this was the first recipe I tried from this delicious book!  

Recipe
Shortbread crust
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg plus 2 Tblsp lightly beaten egg
2 3/4 cups flour
Pecan mixture
1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup lyles golden syrup
1/4 cup half and half
3/3/4 cups chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 375.  Cream together 1/ 1/2 sticks butter with sugar and salt until light and fluffy in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Add the eggs and blend.  Add the flour and mix just until blended.  Press this mixture evenly into a 15 1/2 by 10 1/2 inch sheet pan.  Bake on the middle rack of oven for 15-20 mins, until golden, let cool.
In a large heavy saucepan, combine brown sugar, remaining butter, syrup, and half and half and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring.  Stir in pecans and let the mixture cool.  Spread this pecan mixture evenly over the shortbread base and bake on middle rack for 15 minutes, or until top is bubbly. Let cool, then cut into 2 inch squares.

Recipe adapted from "The Gourmet Cookie Book"

 

Enjoy!

Book available in My Baking Store:
http://astore.amazon.com/rosscoubak-20/detail/0547328168

Special Occasion Linzer Tarts

Linzer tarts can be a versatile treat for any occasion.  You can make them into almost any shape and fill with a variety of jams.  They take a little time to make,  but the combination of the nutty buttery shortbread cookie with a nice fruit jam or preserve is such a treat it is worth it!  Today I made some special heart shaped ones for Valentines day with Raspberry Preserves:

My favorite linzer cookie recipe is from Alex Guarneschelli of the Food Network and can be found here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/linzer-heart-sandwich-cookies-recipe/index.html

Spoon the thinned jam onto each bottom, and spread slightly towards corners, but not too close to edges

Sprinkle tops with powdered sugar as much as you desire, I like to leave a little cookie showing

 

And in the fall time you can make Apple Pie Linzer Tarts using an apple shaped cookie cutter and either apple preserves or apple butter for the filling.  They're so good and something a little different!

Enjoy!