Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Marina’s Neopolitan Cookies

16 oz. almond paste at room temperature 
2 cups butter 
2 cups sugar 
8 egg yolks 
8 egg whites 
4 cups flour 
Zest of one orange
1 tsp almond extract 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp fiori de sicilia
red food color 
green food color 
raspberry jam or Nutella Chocolate 

Chocolate Glaze: make this the next day. 
In a crockpot on low, mix a whole package of chocolate almond bark until melted, add 1 cup heavy cream and mix well.  
Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
Grease bottom of three jelly roll pans (approx 11 x15). Make a parchment paper sling. This makes it easier to remove from pan. 
 Line with wax paper, then spray with Pam. 
Beat egg whites until stiff and set aside. 
Mix almond paste, butter, sugar, extracts and zest together.  
Add egg yolks and mix until mixture is light and fluffy. 
Add flour until barely mixed. Add egg whites to the batter by hand until thoroughly mixed. 
Divid batter in thirds. 
Mix red food color in one, green in the second, and leave the third plain.
Spread into prepared pans using a small offset spatula. 
Bake 10- 14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. 
If you are cooking two trays at a time, switch the pans in the oven after 5 minutes. Make sure the center is loose before inverting. I use a cookies sheet without sides to loosen the layers off the waxed paper.   
Cool five minutes. 
Remove wax paper and let cool. 
If you have a large cutting board, it helps to put the first layer on this for support.  Spread jam or Nutella over green layer, top with plain layer. 
Spread more jam or Nutella and top with pink layer. 
Place a piece of waxed paper over the to, wrap in Saran Wrap, put a sheet pan on top and weigh it down with heavy cans overnight. 
Cut 2" strips and spread top and sides with chocolate glaze. Slice each strip into thin slices.

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