The Oldest Italian Bakery In America Reveals Their Secret Ingredient For The Perfect Rainbow Cookie
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If you’ve been to a Christmas party in New York (or anywhere with a big Italian population), you've probably seen a big platter of Italian cookies of all types. There are pignoli cookies, cuccidati, spritz cookies, and so many more. But my (and many people’s) favorite is the rainbow cookie.
Also known as tri colore after the Italian flag, the layered cookie is made with spongy cake, apricot jam, and chocolate. Slicing it reveals the iconic green, white, and red stripes. They are labor intensive and packed with flavor that leans on almond extract and, for traditionalists, macaroon paste made from the pits of apricots.
Ask any New Yorker where to find the best rainbow cookies and they'll inevitably send you to the oldest Italian bakery in America. Ferrara opened in Little Italy in 1892 and has been operated by the same family, in the same building, ever since.
While they make many other holiday treats, siblings and owner/operators Ernest and Adeline Lepore have a soft spot for tri colore. This is shown in the attention to detail they have in baking every batch. Adeline will show every new baker a Pantone color chip so that they can match the exact shade of red and green she is looking for in the final product. They manage to make around 40,000 individual rainbow cookies a day (that’s about 2,000 pounds), and they all turn out gorgeous.
Every holiday season, Ferrara bakery is decorated beautifully and you can buy as many rainbow cookies and Italian-American specialities that you can carry with you. If you can’t make it to New York, they have a very robust online store.
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