Conversations & Creations · From my kitchen
These checkerboard cookies are a little fiddly, but the crisp vanilla and chocolate pattern makes them worth the effort.
Ingredients
- 150 g cold butter, cut into small pieces
- 150 g sugar, measured and then ground
- 300 g flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 egg
- 1 egg white, for brushing
- A little flour, for dusting
Method
- Mix the flour, sugar, butter and egg in a food processor using short pulses, or carefully by hand on a cool surface.
- Wrap the dough and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Dust the work surface with flour. Break off about one-third of the dough and set aside. Divide the rest in half; mix the cocoa into one half, leaving the other plain.
- Roll the plain and chocolate dough into equal-sized squares. Brush the plain sheet with egg white and place the chocolate sheet on top.
- Cut the layered dough into strips about 1½ cm wide.
- Roll out the reserved dough into a thinner sheet. Brush it with egg white. Arrange the strips beside each other, alternating chocolate and plain, and stack three layers, brushing with egg white between layers.
- Wrap the checkerboard log and chill for 30 minutes.
- Slice thinly with a sharp knife and bake for 10–12 minutes. Let cool before serving.
