Recipe - Venetians

1 cn Almond Paste (8 oz)
3 Sticks Butter; softened
1 cup Sugar
4 Eggs; separated
1 teaspoon Almond extract
2 cup Flour
One fourth teaspoon Salt
10 dr Green food coloring
8 dr Red food coloring
1 Jar Apricot preserves
(12 oz)
2 ounce Semisweet chocolate pieces

Preheat oven to 350 (F). Coat three jelly roll pans with cooking spray,
line with foil and coat foil with spray. Break almond paste into large
bowl. Add softened butter, sugar, egg YOLKS, and almond extract. Beat until
light and fluffy approx 5 min. Beat in flour and salt. In another bowl,
beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into almond mixture until well
blended. Divide mixture into three equal portions. Spread uncolored
(yellowish) dough into one jelly roll pan. Add green color to one portion
and mix well. Spread green into second pan. Add red color to final portion
and spread in last pan. Bake for 13 minutes or until edges are golden brown
(Do not overbake).

Immediately remove the cakes from pans using the foil overhang. Heat
apricot preserves in microwave for two minutes on high and press through
seive. Place green layer on another jelly roll pan and spread half of the
preserves on top all the way to the edges. Slide yellow layer on top of
green and spread the remaining preserves on top of the yellow layer all
the way to the edges. Slide pink layer on top of the yellow layer. Cover
top with plastic wrap and weight with heavy bread board. Refrigerate
overnight. Melt chocolate in microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute and stir
til smooth. Spread melted chocolate to edges of pink layer. Let chocolate
harden and then cut into 1 inch squares. After cooled, it's nice to pipe
small decorations onto the cut squares (snowmen or xmas trees or any
seasonal design)
Posted to MMRecipes Digest V4 #302 by lena36@juno.com (Lena P Mitchell) on
Nov 22, 1997