Checkerboard Cookies

Recipe:

Ingredient Notes:

• Butter. You can use butter with a fat content of 72% or higher. Keep in mind that the higher the fat content, the crisper the dough will be. Therefore, 80% fat content or higher is best.
• Sugar. For this recipe, use white granulated sugar with the finest possible grain because it dissolves better in the dough. For a smoother texture, you can use powdered sugar.
• Eggs. This recipe uses a medium egg, which weighs about 50-55 grams without the shell. It’s best to bring the egg to room temperature before adding it to the dough. If your eggs are cold, you can warm them up by placing them in hot tap water.
• Cocoa powder. I use alkalized (Dutch-processed) cocoa powder, but regular cocoa powder will also work. The difference is that it will produce a less intense color. Nesquik and similar instant cocoa drinks are not suitable here.
• Flour. Since this recipe is for shortbread dough, you need flour that is not strong. All-purpose flour with a protein content of about 10% is suitable. Even better is cake flour with 8-9% protein. If you use stronger bread flour, the dough will turn out stiffer.
• Lemon zest. It is needed to flavor the dough. If you don’t like the flavor of citrus in baked goods, you can omit it.

Let’s start cooking!

Cream the butter at room temperature with the sugar. It’s normal for the sugar not to dissolve completely.

Add the egg, vanilla sugar, and lemon zest, beat again. Add the sifted flour and salt, and knead until a smooth, pliable dough forms.

Divide the dough in half. Add cocoa powder to one part.

Knead quickly until the color is uniform.

Roll both pieces of dough out into sheets of equal thickness and length. I also trim the edges with a ruler to minimize trimmings.

Carefully wrap the sheets in parchment paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up. You can speed up the process by placing the dough in the freezer.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and trim the wide sides slightly to create an even, right-angled cut. Cut both layers into 5 strips of equal width. It is easiest to do this with a ruler to use as a guide.

Lay out the 3 strips in this order:

Then, place 3 more strips on top in that order.

Finally, finish with the strips in the order of the first layer.

Combine the remaining light-colored strip with all the trimmings, and knead them together.

Roll it out into a thin rectangle, then wrap the checkerboard construction with this layer.

Wrap the preparation in plastic wrap and freeze for 40 minutes.

Take it out, cut it into 8-10 mm thick slices, and put them on a lined baking sheet.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 12-15 minutes. The light parts of the cookies should change color very little.

Cool the cookies completely, then serve.

Enjoy!

This Checkerboard Cookies recipe was checked, prepared and approved by Chef Tatyana Nazaruk - author of FlavorIt.com.
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