Looking for Rainbow Cookies!!!

I am from NY and I really miss these Italian bakery cookies. I have been searching for them for a few months and have been unable to locate them anywhere. Does anybody know where I can buy some in Chicago?
They look like this:

http://www.gothamist.com/2003/06/09/got ... ookies.php

Thanks,
B

Anybody else like these cookies or know where to get them?
I can't be the only one

You're definitely not the only one. I absolutely love them too (along with my black & whites) but I can never find them here -- so I stack up on them each trip to NYC. But if you crave them and want to try making them, below is a recipe that was run in Gourmet Magazine. I made them once and they were excellent:

Seven-Layer Cookie recipe

Thank You!
My cooking skills are really shitty, though, and that is being generous!
I tried to make them once before and they turned out barely edible...
But I do appreciate you sending me the recipe...

Anybody else now any bakery/store/dumpster in Chicago that has these cookies?

BR wrote:You're definitely not the only one. I absolutely love them too (along with my black & whites) but I can never find them here

I love them, too, but I haven't found them here. Maybe someone here knows. Or maybe you can talk the nice folks at Pasticceria Natalina into making them.

Black and whites, you can get at Bennison's in Evanston. I think I may have also seen them at Three Tarts in Northfield.

The picture in BR's recipe makes them look like what I know as "rainbow cake," not rainbow cookies. Individual, hand-held cakes. (But admittedly it's hard to tell from the picture whether the texture of the thing is more cookie than cake, or vice versa. The version I know is definitely more cakelike in texture.) I know them from Baltimore. So they may be a mid-Atlantic, East Coast thing.

riddlemay wrote:The picture in that recipe makes them look like what I know as "rainbow cake," not rainbow cookies. Individual, hand-held cakes. (But admittedly it's hard to tell from the picture whether the texture of the thing is more cookie than cake, or vice versa. The version I know is definitely more cakelike in texture.) I know them from Baltimore. So they may be a mid-Atlantic, East Coast thing.

Yes, they are more cakelike in texture. They are almond-paste based. Or, at least, they should be; it's one of those things where some places make an ersatz version without the almond paste.

yeah, you are right, they are made from a cake, which is then cut into squares, so they are really rainbow cake cookies...

They are also known as tri-color, venetian, and neopolitan cookies but whatever they may be called, I will do anything to procure some from somewhere near Chicago!

Can anybody help?

bsmooth7 wrote:They are also known as tri-color, venetian, and neopolitan cookies but whatever they may be called, I will do anything to procure some from somewhere near Chicago!

Can anybody help?

There was a post on another food board (in 2005) claiming that they are available (or, are available around Passover, anyway) at:

Hungarian Kosher Supermarket
4020 W. Oakton
Skokie, IL 60076
847 674-8008

I haven't been there and cannot vouch for the accuracy of the post.

thank you, they are closed now but i will call again tomorrow...

After all this searching and coming up empty, I am thinking it might be a good business idea to open up a cookie store that only sells rainbow cookies -- it would be the only place in chicago that sells them -- apparently.

I think I saw them at Joe Caputo's in Palatine last weekend. They were on a shelf next to the bakery case. Their selection does change from time to time, so I would definitely call first. In fact, I have noticed that some of their breads are from other bakeries in the area. Maybe these cookies are from an outside source too.

The Chow Poodle made these for Greek Easter, but they are of the cookie persuasion and don't really look like the cake version you are searching for.

Chow Poodle Rainbow Cookies


For the cakey ones I'd suggest looking at Kaufman's on Dempster in Skokie. I'm not sure if they have them or not, but somewhere in the back of my mind I remember seeing them there at some point. Not being acquainted with these cookies/cakes, I didn't really take all that much notice.

By the way, I know it's not the same thing, but... if you like rainbow cookies, you probably also enjoy chocolate covered marzipan. I've been trying that at high-end chocolatiers all over Chicagoland, and the very best I've found is at Belgian Chocolatier Piron in Evanston. They have two kinds; one has added orange peel, which is also good, but I prefer the plain version. Wonderful stuff.

For some reason, I THINK I've seen something that looks like those here:
Greco's Bakery
847-390-7995
639 N Wolf Rd
Des Plaines IL 60016
I haven't been in about 7 months, and never tried those specifically. Call and see. (?)

Thanks for all the replies!
This morning I have been on the phone calling around...
I called Greco's, Caputo's and Hungarian Kosher with NO LUCK

I am getting really, really frustrated, argghh!

B

Have you tried Ferrara?

2210 W Taylor St, Chicago
(312) 666-2200
http://www.ferrarabakery.com/

Best,
Michael

Have you tried all of the various Italian bakeries up and down Harlem? What about Kauffamn's as I suggested upthread?

bsmooth7 wrote:I am getting really, really frustrated, argghh!

B

Have you thought about simply making them yourself? That's what I have done in the past when I get a hankering for something that simply can not be found in Chicago, Louisiana Cajun country style boudin for example.

BR posted a recipe link below, here are two more recipes. 1, 2

Enjoy,
Gary

We went to HP Schmaltz in Downers Grove last week and they had them. They are not as good as back home, but they are a reasonable facsimile. They look like the real deal....my main complaint with them was that they tasted like they had been stored in the fridge.....when they were cold, they just had that funky taste. When they came up to room temp, though, the funkiness was gone. They were 'good'....kind of like the difference between Chicago bagels and NY bagels. They'll get you more than halfway there to satisfy the craving until you make it home again. They also have black and whites, btw. And crumb cake. The crumb cake was excellent--as good as anything I've picked up in a deli or bagel shop back home. That was indistinguishable from the real NY thing.

L'Appetito, which has locations both out in Glenview & in the city (in the Hancock building & on East Huron) knew exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned these cookies to them....in fact, the woman that I talked to was able to describe them back to me almost exactly as they were described here.

While they don't carry them on a regular basis, if you call the Glenview location and ask for Licia (who is in charge of ordering from their bakery), she'd be glad to order some for you to pick up a special batch from whichever location is more convenient for you.

Let me know if it works out. Good luck!

Thanks everybody who has been trying to help me out with this craving. It has gotten pretty bad, almost to the point of being obsessed with these things, and being unable to find them, I have been in a bad place recently...
BUT, I have followed up on every suggestion and in reading up on a few gelato threads on this forum, I got a little lucky.
Here is what I have found out so far:
Kaufman's = Not regular carriers, but they can pre-order
Schmaltz = BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But they are closed for the day

Schmaltz ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now for the interesting part...
I checked out Cafe Gelato on Division today on recs from LTHers and of course, I couldn't resist asking the Italian kid behind the counter if he knew of anywhere where I could pick up some rainbow cookies.
I started explaining how they are these cookies with usually 3 diff colors and some call them tri-color and he smiled and said, "I know, they are really difficult to find around here, you are not the first person to ask me about those!"
"House of Cakes" was his reply.
So I called them up but they are closed for the day.
But he seemed like he was on the up and up, if you know what I mean.

In summary, Schmaltz and House of Cakes (Norwood Park)!!!!!

Oh, the gelato was pretty good, I sampled the mocha and strawberry and my girlfriend had strawberry and limon.
I thought the limon was the best out of the bunch...

Thanks so much again, maybe we can have a Rainbow-a-thon if we can get enough people who are interested in trying out these cookies and if we can find enough places in Chicago that make them.

If anybody knows any more places, please let me know!
I know there are a lot of closet fans of these babies but many do not know what they are called...

B

If you end up having to special order them, let us know when you plan to pick them up, and maybe some of us (okay, at least one of us ) will order some to be picked up at the same time, so the bakery can make a larger quantity.

BTW, I looked in Convito this afternoon, but no luck there.

nsxtasy wrote:There was a post on another food board (in 2005) claiming that they are available (or, are available around Passover, anyway) at:

Hungarian Kosher Supermarket
4020 W. Oakton
Skokie, IL 60076
847 674-8008

I haven't been there and cannot vouch for the accuracy of the post.

That was me, and I SWEAR on my grandmother's grave - I bought them at Hungarian Kosher. It was a kosher for passover version. That's when we'd always get them, because they were very expensive, but for passover...

Rainbow cookies purchased!!!

My lady friend drove out to Downer's Grove and picked me up 1.46 lbs of Rainbow cookies.
As the poster above noted, they are an average version of the NY cookies I grew up with, but part of that comes from them being refrigerated, which tends to dry them out a bit...

The good news is, they tasted OUTSTANDING!!!

My craving has been satisfied!

Thanks to all the posters who kept the faith and special thanks to "tavogels", who totally hooked me up!!!

Kauffmans....for Italian Cookies?

What about D'Amatos Bakery on Grand, at May St? Check out the cookies, buy some foccacia, grab a terrif sub next door at Bari Foods (you order at the meat counter)....

This was my hood back in the mid-90s, but no more, otherwise I'd run over and photograph the cookie selection. My fave are the butter cookies with the chocolate frosting sandwiched between.....mmmmm.....my daughter really digs the breadsticks too.

Good luck!

D'Amatos Bakery
1124 W. Grand Ave., Chicago
Tel: (312) 733-5456

bsmooth7 wrote:Rainbow cookies purchased!!!

That's great news! Mazel tov!

I assume they have these at both their locations:

H.P. Schmaltz & Co.
www.schmaltzdeli.com

1512 North Naper Blvd. #152
Naperville, IL 60563
(630) 245-7595

1416 Butterfield Rd. "Next To The Best Buy"
Downers Grove, IL 60515
(630) 629-7597

elizabeth wrote:Kauffmans....for Italian Cookies?

In New York, these cookies are more likely to be found in Jewish delis than in Italian bakeries. And that's apparently true of the Chicago area, too.

elizabeth wrote:What about D'Amatos Bakery on Grand, at May St?

They don't have the rainbow cookies. D'Amato's is a good suggestion for anyone looking for great whole wheat bread, though.

I pick up black and whites on my monthly visits to NY Bagel & Bialy; cake like cookie, thick icing, mmmm. But, I've never seen the rainbows. I'll ask this week.

New York Bagels & Bialy Corporation
8794 W Dempster St
Niles, IL 60714-5185

Incidentally, since you like rainbow cookies (the real, almond-paste-based ones), you should really try the marzariners at Swedish Bakery in Andersonville. A marzariner is an oval-shaped cake, and the filling is almond-paste-based, very similar to the layers of the rainbow cookies. It sits in a crumbly crust, and there is a thin white sugar frosting on top. No chocolate at all. They come in two sizes. And for anyone who loves almond-paste-based cakes, they are wonderful.

I read this post a while back and had no idea what you were talking about, but I was intrigued, to say the least. I filed the necessary information in the back of my mind for another day and today it came in handy. I am currently in Boston visiting friends and today we went to the North End, where Little Italy is, and my friend wanted a cannoli, I was open to trying something different. I was thinking sfogliatelle, cannoli, cream puff, and there I saw them in a display case at Mike's Pastry, the beloved rainbow cookies (there they called them rainbow layers). I bought 2, one for me and one for my friend. I devoured them immediately and went back inside and bought a few more. The following picture is the cookies after spending an afternoon in my purse...I still think they look pretty good!


bsmooth, thanks for posting about them those months ago--they were delicious!

Mike's Pastry
300 Hanover Street
Boston, MA 02113
617-742-3050


Sharona

Sharona --

Coincidentally, I just ate 2 pounds of rainbows delivered from NYC over a 2 day period while you were eating yours...
And they looked eerily similar to the ones that you ate...

There was a reason I was "feenin for dem rainbows..."

B

Sharona wrote:I read this post a while back and had no idea what you were talking about, but I was intrigued, to say the least. I filed the necessary information in the back of my mind for another day and today it came in handy. I am currently in Boston visiting friends and today we went to the North End, where Little Italy is, and my friend wanted a cannoli, I was open to trying something different. I was thinking sfogliatelle, cannoli, cream puff, and there I saw them in a display case at Mike's Pastry, the beloved rainbow cookies (there they called them rainbow layers). I bought 2, one for me and one for my friend. I devoured them immediately and went back inside and bought a few more. The following picture is the cookies after spending an afternoon in my purse...I still think they look pretty good!


bsmooth, thanks for posting about them those months ago--they were delicious!

Mike's Pastry
300 Hanover Street
Boston, MA 02113
617-742-3050


Sharona