“If You Want the Rainbow
You Have to Put Up With the Rain.”

Bettie‘s Rainbow Cookies

A special batch of rainbow cookies for my friend Bettie… 6 layers of colorful wonderfulness. I used the usual amazing recipe but made two 3/4 batches. Because I wanted slimmer layers… but also because I didn’t have enough Earth Balance for two regular batches. 😂 And once you open up a package of Silken tofu, you might has well keep making batches of rainbow cookies.

I have to say again that this is the best tasting cookie batter ever. I need to rinse all bowls and utensils in the sink immediately or else I’d lick them down with fierce cat-like enthusiasm. Is that TMI? Perhaps. Anyway, here is the recipe.

Bettie’s Rainbow Cookies

281 grams All-purpose Flour

1 and a scant 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

300 grams Sugar

213 grams Earth Balance

1.5 oz Almond Paste

4.5 Tablespoons Silken Tofu

3/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

222 ml Soy Milk

Gel food color: Your preference

1/2 cup Jam

160 grams Chocolate chips

60 ml Unsweetened soy milk

1.) Prepare: Bring soy milk, Earth Balance, silken tofu and almond paste to room temperature. Line three 8 inch square pans with parchment paper with overlap to easy handling. Weight your large mixing bowl in grams and note it somewhere.

2.) Preheat oven to 350.

3.) In a medium size bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

4.) In the large mixing bowl you weighed, cream Earth Balance and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

5.) Add almond paste, silken tofu and vanilla and beat again until well incorporated. Really work the almond paste so that there are minimal lumps in the batter.

6.) Add 1/2 of the flour mixture and beat until incorporated, then add half the soy milk and beat. Add the rest of the flour and beat again, then the rest of the soy milk. Beat until well-incorporated.

7.) Weigh the bowl with the batter, then subtract the weight of the bowl. Then divide that by 3 and round to the nearest whole. Math!

8.) Place one of your small bowls on the scale and reset scale to zero. Scoop in batter in accordance to your math and set aside. Repeat for the next small bowl.

9.) Add your desired colors to the bowls and mix well until the color is uniform. Then fill the prepared pans with the tinted batters, evening and smoothing out the thick batter.

10.) Bake for 18-22 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean. Set all pans aside on cooling racks and let each cool in its pan for 10 minutes.

11.) After 10 minutes carefully remove layers from pans and set on cooling rack. Then repeat all directions for the next 3 layers.

12.) Meanwhile, prepare jam. Slightly heat and mix well to try to minimize lumps. If it’s a seeded fruit jam, you can push through a sieve. Set aside until layers have cooled completely.

13.) Once the layers have cool, use an offset spatula to spread half the jam on a tinted layer.

14.) Carefully release the desired next layer and place on top of the jelly layer. Cover the layer with the more jam. Continue this pattern until all layers are stacked.

15.) Cover the top layer with parchment paper and place one of the square pans on top of all the layers. Place some heavy things in the pan to press the layers together. Place the whole thing in the fridge for at least four hours.

16.) After, pull the cookie-cake carefully out of the bottom pan and place on a cutting board. You can trim edges with a serrated knife for uniformity and neatness.

17.) In a double-boiler, add soy milk and chocolate–mixing until smooth. Allow to cool for 1 hour, then spread onto top of the cake-cookie.

18) Sprinkle the chocolate top with sprinkles while it is still tacky. Allow to set a a minute before slicing with a serrated knife, using a hot water-dampened dish towel to clean blade between each slice.