Neapolitan Cookies

I got this recipe out of a magazine, I believe, years ago, and since I started making them for Christmas, they have become one of my Christmas cookie traditions.

Susan's recipe calls them Venetians. According to Wikipedia, "This variety of the confection likely originated in Italian communities in the United States during the 1900s, in homage to the community's heritage. Although often called simply rainbow cookies in much of the non-Italian continental United States, some local names for this specific variety are: Italian flag cookies, Napoleon, Seven layer cake, Seven layer cookies (chocolate on top and bottom), Tricolor cookies, and Venetian cookies."

8 ounces almond paste (Homemade Almond Paste)
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
4 extra large egg yolks
2 cups flour
4 egg whites, beaten to soft peaks
20 drops red food coloring
12 drops green food coloring
1/4 cup seedless red raspberry jam
1/4 cup apricot preserves
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

Prepare 3 separate 13 x 9 x 2 inch pans: grease them, then line with wax paper, and grease again.

Beat the almond paste, butter, sugar, and egg yolks with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the flour, then fold in the egg whites beaten to soft peaks.

Measure out three bowls of 1 1/2 cups batter. If not, evenly divide between the three.

Mix 1 1/2 cup batter with the red food coloring, 1 1/2 cup of the batter with the green food coloring. You should have 1 1/2 cup of batter left for the yellow layer.

Turn the batters into the prepared pans. You will have to use a spatula or table knife to smooth the batters out. They will be very thin layers.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 -12 minutes until the edges are just turning a golden brown. Invert the layers onto wire racks to cool. Cool completely.

Place the green layer on a cutting board that has been covered with wax paper and spread with the raspberry jam. Top with the yellow layer and spread with the apricot preserves. Top with the pink layer. Cover with plastic wrap, weight with a cutting board and let it sit overnight.

The next day, melt the semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave and spread it over the top of the cake. Let the chocolate dry slightly (it should just be dry to the touch, but not hard or the chocolate will crack when you try to cut it); you can see this happen, because at this point it will start to lose its sheen. It will take about an hour or so. Using a long bread knife, cut crosswise into 24 strips. Cut lengthwise into 4.

Let the chocolate completely harden and place in a sealed container. Separate cookie layers with wax paper. Mellow at least one day.

Makes 96 cookies (8 dozen)