Neapolitan Holiday Cookies Food

NEAPOLITAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Line a 9x5-in. loaf pan with waxed paper, letting ends extend up sides. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into creamed mixture. , Divide dough into 3 portions. Mix almond extract and food coloring into 1 portion; spread evenly into prepared pan. Mix walnuts into another portion; spread evenly over first layer. Mix melted chocolate into remaining portion; spread over top. Refrigerate, covered, overnight. , Preheat oven to 350°. Lifting with waxed paper, remove dough from pan. Cut lengthwise in half; cut each half crosswise into 1/8-in. slices., Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until edges are firm, 10-12 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.

COCONUT NEAPOLITAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350ºF.
• Spread coconut onto rimmed baking sheet. Bake 5 min. or until dry but not browned, stirring occasionally; cool. Turn oven off.
• Combine flour and baking powder. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in egg and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well after each addition.
• Divide dough into thirds; place each in separate bowl. Add one of the following to dough in each bowl: dry drink mix, melted chocolate and coconut; mix well.
• Line 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment, with ends of parchment extending over sides. Press red-colored dough onto bottom of prepared pan. Cover with layers of coconut-flavored dough, then chocolate dough, gently pressing layers together to seal. Refrigerate 4 hours or until firm.
• Heat oven to 350°F. Use parchment handles to remove dough from pan; remove and discard parchment. Cut dough into 3 lengthwise strips, then cut each strip crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place, 1 inch apart, on parchment-covered baking sheets.
• Bake 9 to 11 min. or until edges of cookies are firm to the touch but not browned. Cool on pan 1 min. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

NEAPOLITAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Line the bottom of a loaf pan with waxed paper.
• With an electric mixer combine flour, sugar, butter, egg, baking powder, vanilla, and salt; beat for 3 minutes.
• Divide the cookie dough into 3 equal parts.
• Part 1: mix in the almond or hazelnut extract and 5 drops red food coloring (this is the pink/red dough).
• Part 2: mix in the chopped walnuts or pistachios (this is the white dough).
• Part 3: mix in the cocoa (this is the brown dough).
• Preheat the oven to 350°.
• In the loaf pan, spread each part of the dough one on top of the other, pink, white, and chocolate; cover the pan and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
• After chilling, turn out the dough from the pan and cut loaf lengthwise in half, then crosswise, then cut pieces of dough to make about 15 cookies from each piece.
• Bake each batch for 8-10 minutes.
• Makes about 60 cookies.

NEAPOLITAN COOKIES I

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Divide dough equally into three small bowls. Add almond extract and red food coloring to one portion; stir until thoroughly mixed. Mix chocolate into second bowl, and walnuts into the third bowl.
• Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with waxed paper, and spread almond dough evenly in the bottom of the pan. Spread the walnut dough evenly over the almond layer, and top with chocolate dough layer. Cover layered dough with waxed paper, and place in the refrigerator until firm, about 4 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Turn out chilled dough by inverting pan; peel off waxed paper. With sharp knife, cut dough lengthwise in half. Slice each half of dough crosswise into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices on cookie sheet one inch apart.
• Bake 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until light brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

NEAPOLITAN COOKIES

Steps:

• This dough chills overnight. On the day you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 400.
• For the dark dough: sift together flour, salt, baking soda, cloves, and cinnamon and set aside.
• Grind or cut chocolate until it is fine (otherwise it will be hard to slice the dough). Set aside.
• In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, add the coffee and brown sugar and beat well.
• Add the eggs and beat to mix. Beat in the ground chocolate.
• On low speed gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl regularly. Don't overblend! Then stir in the nuts. Set the dough aside (not in the fridge) and make the light dough.
• Light dough: Sift together flour, salt, baking soda. Set aside.
• In a large clean bowl of the electric mixer with clean beaters, cream the butter. Add the vanilla, the sugar, water and beat well. Add the egg, beat to mix. On low speed gradually add the shifted dry ingredients. Don't overmix.
• Mix in the currents, lemon rind and cherries.
• Layer dough in the pans: one half the dark dough (carefully pack down and smooth), all the light dough (do the same), then the rest of the dark dough. Press down to make a compact loaf.
• Chill overnight (or for about twelve hours) in the freezer.
• To bake: preheat to 400. You'll need unbuttered cookie sheets, lined with foil if possible.
• Turn the pan over so that the cake of dough slides out, and peel off the foil or waxpaper. With a long and heavy knife, cut the cake in half the long way (if you used loaf pans); if you used a square 8x8 pan, cut it in three equal strips. Work with one piece at a time (wrap and freeze the others). Now slice the long piece you've got into individual cookies, about 1/3 of an inch thick. Place them 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheets -- they will spread!
• Bake 10 minutes, watching carefully. The white dough should be lightly browned, but the dark dough will burn if you're not careful. If they come out of the oven seeming slightly underdone, that's good. They'll be chewy instead of brittle.

NEAPOLITAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with plastic. In a large bowl, stir cranberries into orange-sable dough. In another large bowl, stir walnuts into chocolate-espresso dough.
• Press orange mixture into bottom of pan. Using an offset spatula, smooth top evenly. Spread chocolate mixture over orange mixture and smooth evenly. Cover pan with plastic; chill at least 2 hours.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Unmold dough; remove plastic. Cut into 2-by-8-inch bricks; cut bricks into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place slices on sheets, spaced 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until firm to the touch, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool. Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.

NEAPOLITAN COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F and line your tray with parchment paper.
• Take a medium-size bowl and mix the flour and baking powder well and keep aside.
• Take a large bowl and beat the butter along with the sugar until it's light and creamy. Then add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat after each addition.
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix everything well until it's all combined.
• Take this dough and divide it into three parts. Keep one part as it is, to the second part add 2 drops of food color and powdered strawberry (make the powder in a food processor) and mix well. To the third part add the cocoa powder and mix well.
• For making the cookies, take small portions ( about 1-2 tsp) from each of the dough and press them gently together, making sure to keep their distinct color intact and then flatten it using your palm.
• Place them on the prepared tray and bake for 10-12 mins. Let the cookies cool down completely on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

NEAPOLITAN HOLIDAY COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 3 quarter-sheet pans (or three 13-by-9-by-2-inch jelly roll pans) with cooking spray. Line each pan with parchment paper and coat the paper with cooking spray as well.
• Place the almond paste in the bowl of a stand mixer. Break it up into small pieces with a fork. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment and add the butter and sugar to the bowl. Beat the mixture on high speed until light and fluffy, about 7 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium, add the egg yolks, and beat until incorporated. Turn the mixer off and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until well combined. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
• Clean the mixer bowl thoroughly and fit the mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter until thoroughly blended.
• Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the batter to a medium bowl, then transfer another 1 1/2 cups of the batter to a second medium bowl. Add the red food coloring to one of the bowls and stir until the batter is tinted throughout. Add the green food coloring to the second bowl and stir until the batter is tinted throughout. Scrape each of the three batters into one of the prepared pans, using the spatula to spread the batter to the edges. Bake, rotating and switching the positions of the pans halfway through, until the edges are golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool in the pans for about 5 minutes, then invert onto cooling racks and allow to cool completely.
• To assemble, place the green layer on a large cutting board or a large inverted baking sheet lined with wax paper. Spread the raspberry jam evenly over the top. Place the yellow layer on top and spread with the apricot preserves. If there are large chunks of apricots, remove and chop them up to make them more spreadable. Top with the red layer. Cover with plastic wrap and place a heavy cutting board on top to weight it down. Refrigerate overnight.
• Place the chocolate chips in a microwaveable bowl and melt in the microwave on low power about 2 minutes. Spread the chocolate on top of the cooled cake and let dry slightly. Trim the rim of the cake with a serrated knife to make clean edges. Cut the cake crosswise into twelve 1-inch-wide strips, then cut lengthwise into 1 1/4-inch strips. The cookies will keep, covered, up to 1 week.

NEAPOLITAN BISCOTTI

Steps:

• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line large baking sheet with foil. Butter foil. Finely grind 3/4 cup almonds in processor. Transfer to large bowl. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Whisk honey, oil, egg, yolk and orange peel in small bowl to blend. Add to dry ingredients and stir until dough just begins to hold together (if dough seems firm and dry, let stand 10 minutes to soften).
• Turn out dough onto lightly floured work surface. Add remaining 3/4 cup almonds and knead to distribute evenly. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into 12-inch-long, 2-inch-wide log. Place logs on prepared sheet, spacing 4 inches apart. Bake until firm to touch and dark brown (logs may crack), about 40 minutes.
• Cool logs on sheet on rack 15 minutes. Transfer logs to work surface. Using serrated knife, cut logs diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place cut side down on same foil-lined sheet and bake until light brown and dry, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheet on rack. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)