Nutty and crumbly, rainbow cookies certainly make a colorful statement on a dessert tray featuring three times the color. The traditional cookie is colored red, white, and green after the Italian flag. Given the homage, diners likely think that the dessert originated in Italy. However, rainbow cookies were actually created in America, although they were inspired by Italian heritage and traditions. 

"It's a very old school, Italian-American cookie, which has a homey, authentic appeal to so many people," Chef Amy Brandwein told Eater. Although it's not known who first conjured up rainbow cookies, Italian immigrants created the cookies in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It quickly became a hit in Italian American bakeries in cities with a large Italian immigrant population like New York.