Italian Neapolitan Cookies
These spectacular Neapolitan Cookies and will they might look complicated they are actually really easy to make. A single almond paste dough is divided into three bowls and colored red and green with the last bowl left plain. Cementing the layers together are two different jams.
Servings: 32 servings
Calories: 252kcal
Equipment
- 3 9x13" pans (quarter sheet pans)
Ingredients
Tri Colored Cookie Batter
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (250 grams)
- 10 ounces almond paste (280 grams)
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened (340 grams)
- 6 large eggs
- 1 tablespoons almond extract
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (350 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Red Gel Food Coloring
- Green Gel Food Coloring
Rum Soaking Syrup
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- ¼ cup dark rum
Assembly
- ½ cup seedless red raspberry jam
- ½ cup apricot preserves
Chocolate Frosting
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 tablespoons corn syrup
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cup powdered sugar (200 grams)
- ½ cup cocoa, Dutch preferred (45 grams)
Instructions
Tri Colored Cookie Batter
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 3 9x12 baking pans (quarter sheet pans) with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Place the sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Cut or tear the almond paste into pieces and add to the processor. Process until the mixture looks like sand.
- Remove the mixture to a mixing bowl and add the softened butter. Beat until very light.
- Add the eggs and almond extract and beat until fluffy, scraping several times.
- In the meantime, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set the mixer to low and add the flour mixture to the butter ⅓ at a time, mixing just to combine. The batter will be very thick.
- Divide the batter into 3 bowls of about 500 grams each. Color one bowl green, one red and leave the third bowl plain.
- Spread each bowl evenly in one of the three parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. They will be barely browned ad a tester will come out clean. Do over bake. The layers will be about ½" each thick and dense.
- Cool each pan completely.
Rum Soaking Wash
- Combine all the ingredients in a small pan. Bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Place in a 1 cup measure. If it doesn't measure 1 cup, add water. Cool completely.
Assembly
- Place the apricot preserves in the bowl of a processor and process until smooth. Set aside.
- Place the green layer on a quarter sheet cake board upside down. Brush with ⅓ cup of the rum wash.
- Spread the raspberry jam evenly over the layer.
- Top with the plain layer, spread with another ⅓ cup of the rum wash, and spread with the apricot preserves.
- Place the red layer on top and brush with the last ⅓ cup of the rum wash. Wrap the layers in plastic wrap.
- Place a clean 9x13 or quarter sheet pan on top of the red layer. Place a 10 pound bag of flour in the pan and refrigerate overnight. Two 4 pound bags of flour will work also.
Chocolate Frosting
- Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa together. Stir together completely.
- Dissolve the coffee in the water. Add the corn syrup and vanilla, stirring well to incorporate the corn syrup.
- Add it to the powdered sugar/ cocoa mix. Stir with a spoon until completely combined. Do not be too vigorous with stirring to prevent air bubbles.
- If the frosting is too loose or runny, sift in a bit more powdered sugar. If it is too thick, add water a teaspoon or so at a time. It should barely run down the sides when applied.
- Spread it evenly over the top layer. It should run down the sides as seen in the photo. Let it sit at room temperature for several hours to set up.
Cutting the Cookies
- Trim the sides of the cookies. Measure the short long side. Mine were 8"x11" If yours are the same cut 8 1" srips across the short side and 4 2 ¾" down the long side to make 32 bars. These may be cut in half again to make 64 smaller cookies.
- Store the cookies in a single layer to prevent marring the finish. They get better as they sit. The cookies will hold for 7 or more days if covered.
- To make ahead, assemble through layering and weighing down the layers. Do not add the frosting. Wrap well and freeze for a couple of months after they have been weighted down. Thaw in refrigerator if possible. Finish as above.
Notes
There is always an abundance of photos to guide you in the post above.
As always, I recommend using a scale for accuracy and consistency. Flour, in particular, is difficult to measure by volume. For my recipes, I use 140 grams per cup of unsifted all-purpose, bread or whole wheat flour and 125 grams of cake flour. Others may use different weights so use whatever they suggest.
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The baked dough is dense and rises to about ½".
Make sure to use gel colors to color the dough as the colors are more intense and gels do not add liquid to a dough.
Color the doughs brighter than you want them as they often fade slightly when baking.
These cookies stay moist and taste better the day or so after making.
Stir the powdered sugar/cocoa and liquid ingredients together to avoid air bubbles. If it is too thick, thin with a bit of water, if too thin, sift in a bit of powdered sugar. It should flow over the sides when covering the top.
Pour the boiled ingredients for the rum wash into a 1 cup measure so it will be easy to use ⅓ at a time.
Don't skip the weighting down of the layers. It important as the jams cement everything together so the cookies don't separate.
Process the apricot preserves to smooth them out. There shouldn't be any pieces of fruit when spreading out. It needs to be smooth.
Nutrition
Serving: 32bars | Calories: 252kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 58mg | Sodium: 91mg | Potassium: 79mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 25g | Vitamin A: 324IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 1mg
