Italian Rainbow Cookies (Neapolitan Cookies)

Ingredients

4 large eggs (at room temperature), separated
1 cup sugar (split into 1/4 cup & 3/4 cup)
8 oz almond paste
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
30 drops red food coloring
30 drops green food coloring
6 ounces Smucker’s apricot preserves, gently heated*
6 ounces Horrocks’ seedless black raspberry preserves, gently heated*
6 oz chocolate, chopped (I use a 50/50 mix of Hershey’s Special Dark & Hershey’s milk chocolate)

* (microwave for 15 seconds on full power, stir, and microwave for another 15 seconds)

Instructions

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.2. 
2. Coat 3 quarter-sheet pans with cooking spray. Line each pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on each end (see image below). Coat paper with cooking spray as well.
3. Beat whites in mixer fitted with whisk attachment at medium-high speed until they just hold stiff peaks. Add 1/4 cup sugar a little at a time, beating at high speed until whites hold stiff, slightly glossy peaks (see image below). Transfer to another bowl.
4. Switch to paddle attachment, then beat together almond paste and remaining 3/4 cup sugar until well blended, about 3 minutes. Add butter and beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add yolks and almond extract and beat until combined well, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add flour and salt and mix until just combined. Put this almond mixture into your favorite stainless steel mixing bowl.
5. Fold half of egg white mixture into almond mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly.
6. Divide batter among 3 bowls. Stir red food coloring into one and green food coloring into another, leaving the third batch plain. Set white batter aside. Chill green batter, covered. Pour red batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with offset spatula (layer will be about 1/4 inch thick).
7. Bake red layer 8 to 10 minutes, until just set. (It is important to undercook. They’ll look like they’re not done, but a tester does come out clean.)
8. Using paper overhang, transfer layer to a rack to cool, about 15 minutes. Clean pan, then line with parchment or wax paper and butter paper in same manner as above. Bake white layer in prepared pan until just set. As white layer bakes, bring green batter to room temperature. Transfer white layer to a rack. Prepare pan as above, then bake green layer in same manner as before. Transfer to a rack to cool.
9. After a 15 minute  cooling, invert the red layer onto a parchment or wax-paper-lined 1/4 baking sheet . Discard paper from layer and spread with the raspberry preserves. Invert white on top of red layer, discarding paper. Spread with the apricot preserves. Invert green layer on top of white layer and discard wax or parchment paper.
10. Cover with plastic wrap and weight with a large baking pan. 
11. Chill at least 8 hours.
12. When it’s time to add the chocolate, remove the weight and plastic wrap from the cookies. Place a piece of parchment paper over the cookies and invert them onto a new 1/4 sheet pan. Trim the edges off and give the edge trimmings to Sam, who is surely eager to receive them. Place the cookies back into the fridge while melting the chocolate.
13. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Microwave for 15 seconds at a time on 50% power, stirring the chocolate after each 15-second interval until there are just a couple of unmelted chunks of chocolate. Then stir the chocolate until it is smooth. Spread the chocolate on the cookies.
14. Let the chocolate set up for 10 minutes and then score* it. Once it’s scored, the chocolate has further set up, so it should be ready to slice. Now slice the cookies. While slicing, occasionally clean the knife off with a hot cloth and dry with a clean cloth when it starts getting gunky.
15. ONCE THE COOKIES ARE CUT, DO NOT TRY PACKAGING THEM! PUT THEM BACK IN THE FRIDGE TO LET THEM GET COMPLETELY COLD AGAIN BEFORE PACKAGING! 

*To make more uniformly-sized cookies, along the length of the cookie mark the parchment paper every 1 5/16  inch, and every 1 1/2 inch along the width. When it is time to score the chocolate, make a knife-mark on the chocolate at the point of every penciled tick mark. Then score the cookies using the marks to guide your slice. 

Do ahead: Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 2 weeks. They’ll keep even longer in the freezer.

Peaks

Tips for Inverting the Layers