Checkerboard Cookies
I come from
a very large and extended family so rather than buying presents for
everyone, I bake cookies for them. This year I'm adding these
cookies to my gift trays because they are easy and inexpensive to
make, plus they look fancy and taste great. Since this is a type of
icebox cookie, you can make and chill the dough for up to three days
before slicing and baking.
I hope you
enjoy these cookies as much as I (and my family) do!
Ingredients:
1 ounce
(1/8 cup) semisweet chocolate, melted*
1 cup
unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup
sugar
½ cup
powdered sugar
½ teaspoon
salt
2 large egg
yolks
2 teaspoons
vanilla
2 ¼ cups
flour
2
tablespoons cocoa powder
*Melt your
chocolate before doing anything else so that it can cool while you
are working on the dough. Chocolate can scorch quickly. To prevent
this, don't walk away from the stove during the melting process and
constantly scrape the bottom of the pan.
With either
a stand mixer or a hand-held mixer, beat together the butter, sugar,
powdered sugar, and salt on medium-high speed for 3 minutes. Beat in
the egg yolks and vanilla, just until combined, then reduce the speed
to low and slowly add the flour. Once all of the flour has been
incorporated, divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and set one half
aside. Add the melted chocolate and cocoa powder to the remaining
half of dough and beat until combined. Shape each half of dough into
a 9-inch by 2-inch rectangle that is 1 inch thick. Stack the 2
rectangles of dough to form a 2-inch-square log, then wrap it in
plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
Preheat the
oven to 325 degrees. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut
the log in half lengthwise. Rotate one half of the dough and
re-stack it to create a checkerboard pattern. Slice the dough into
¼-inch thick squares and place them about an inch apart on a baking
sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the edges just start to turn
a light golden brown. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 5
minutes after removing from the oven and then transfer them to a
cooling rack to finish cooling before serving.
Yields
approximately 30 cookies.
This recipe
is found on page 81 of the printed magazine.
Comments
Post a Comment