Italian rainbow cookies are three thin almond-paste sponge layers (red, green and plain), bound with raspberry and apricot jam and capped in a thin shell of dark chocolate. Cut into rectangles.

Italian rainbow cookies were created by Italian-American bakers in early-20th-century New York as an edible salute to the Italian tricolore flag. They became a fixture of the city's Italian bakeries (Veniero's in the East Village, opened 1894; the Italian-American pastry counters of the Lower East Side and Williamsburg). The cookies are now baked across New York Italian bakeries and bagel shops, sold by the pound from the case. Junior's and William Greenberg Desserts on the Upper East Side both keep the tradition; Williamsburg's Italian bakeries (and even Russ & Daughters' rotating cookie case) sell them.

3 editor picks for Italian rainbow cookie in New York City, ranked by editorial score. All New York City signature dishes · Italian rainbow cookie across every city.