Marble Cookies

Recipe:

Ingredient Notes:

• Butter: You can use butter with 72% fat content or higher. Remember, the higher the fat, the crisper your cookies will be. Ideally, 80-82.5% fat butter is optimal for the perfect balance of richness and texture.
• Powdered Sugar: The exceptionally fine texture of powdered sugar is key here. It dissolves more quickly and thoroughly than even the finest granulated sugar, resulting in a more delicate dough.
• Egg Yolks: This recipe specifically calls for egg yolks only (no whole eggs). This is crucial for achieving that signature delicate, melt-in-your-mouth texture. While I don’t recommend it, if you must substitute, use an average of 20g per egg yolk when calculating for whole eggs.
• Cocoa Powder: You can use either regular or alkalized cocoa powder. For this batch, I used regular. Alkalized cocoa powder will give your chocolate cookies a darker color and a slightly richer flavor.
• Flour: Since this is a shortbread dough, you don’t need a high-protein flour. Regular all-purpose flour with about 10% protein is suitable. Even better, cake flour (8-9% protein) will yield a more tender result. Avoid stronger bread flour, as it will make the dough tough.
• Vanilla: I used vanilla extract. If you prefer vanilla sugar, you’ll need 1 teaspoon for the vanilla dough and 1/2 teaspoon for the chocolate dough. Just remember to reduce the powdered sugar amount accordingly when making this substitution.
• Orange Zest: This is for adding a lovely aroma to the dough. I don’t recommend substituting it with lemon zest, as it doesn’t pair well with chocolate in this recipe. However, if you’re not a fan of citrus in your baked goods, you can simply omit it.

Let’s start cooking!

Prepare the vanilla dough. Beat the butter, powdered sugar, and orange zest together until creamy.

Gradually add the vanilla extract and egg yolks, beating well after each addition.

Add the salt and flour, and knead the dough.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Form each part into a rectangle measuring approximately 10 x 15 cm (4 x 6 inches). Wrap each rectangle in plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator.

Knead the chocolate dough in the same way, adding cocoa powder.

Divide the chocolate dough into 2 parts, form them into rectangles, and put them in the refrigerator.

Refrigerate the dough until it can be rolled out. To speed up the process, use the freezer.

Roll out the cooled dough, two pieces of chocolate and three pieces of vanilla, one by one into rectangular layers about 3 mm thick. The easiest way to roll them out is between sheets of parchment paper.

Stack the layers on top of each other in the following order: vanilla, chocolate, vanilla, chocolate, vanilla.

Roll the stack into a log and press it down.

Fold it in half and press down again. Form a cylindrical log.

Roll out the last piece of vanilla dough into a rectangle and wrap it around the log. Wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in the freezer until the dough hardens enough to be sliced. This usually takes about an hour.

Cut the dough into 5 mm-thick rounds and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (355°F) for 12-15 minutes per batch. The edges of the finished cookies should be slightly golden.

Cool the cookies on a wire rack, and then serve them.

Enjoy!

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