Black and White Chess Cookies

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There’s nothing like delicious butter cookies that go just great with your morning coffee cup. The following chess cookies are exactly the kind that will accompany your coffee perfectly – they are light, crispy and simply superb.

Their special chess cookies shape is formed by a fairly simple assembly, but if you want, you can make black and white butter cookies in regular shapes.

Black and White Chess Cookies

Photo: Natalie Levin


Black and White Chess Cookies

For the white dough:

  • 100 grams (1 stick) butter
  • 50 grams (5 tbsp.) sugar powder
  • 100 grams (3/4 cup) all-purpose flour
  • 50 grams (5 tbsp.) cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 tbsp. cold milk (if needed)

For the chocolate dough:

  • 100 grams (1 stick) butter
  • 60 grams (1/2 cup) sugar powder
  • 120 grams (1 cup minus 2 tbsp,) all-purpose flour
  • 30 grams (3 tbsp.) cocoa powder
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 tbsp. cold milk (if needed)
  1. White dough: in a food processor with a steel blade, put butter, powdered sugar, flour, cornstarch, vanilla extract and salt and blend until crumbly mixture forms.
  2. Add the yolk and continue to blend until large chunks of dough are formed. If the dough does not combine, add a tablespoon of cold milk and continue to blend.
  3. Transfer the chunks of dough to a work surface, combine them with your hands to a disk-shape, wrap in plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator for about an hour.
  4. Chocolate dough: in a food processor with a steel blade, put butter, powdered sugar, flour and cocoa and blend until crumbly mixture forms.
  5. Add the yolk and continue to blend until large chunks of dough are formed. If the dough does not combine, add a tablespoon of cold milk and continue to blend.
  6. Transfer the chunks of dough to a work surface, combine them with your hands to a disk-shape, wrap in plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator for about an hour.
  7. Cookie design: on a floured surface roll each dough into a rectangle about 1 cm thick (it is very important not to flatten thinner). Using a knife, cut into 10 strips of dough the same width (1 * 1 cm). A total of 20 strips (10 of each color) are required. Use 9 strips of each color and the extra strip is used to create a cookie frame.
  8. Arrange the straps alternately and in three layers: Line 1 – white strip, black strip, white strip; Line 2 – black strip, white strip, black strip; Line 3: White strip, black strip, white strip. It is important to tighten the straps together so that the cookies are accurate.
  9. Cool the rectangle in the freezer for about an hour and repeat the action with the rest of the straps, but reverse the strips in terms of colors.
  10. With the remaining chocolate and white dough, prepare dough frames (optional) – roll each color into a thin rectangle that can wrap the frozen rectangles. Gently wrap the rectangles in the remaining dough. Freeze for 30 minutes until set.
  11. Preheat the oven to 170c degrees and arrange baking paper on 2 baking pans.
  12. Slice the rectangles into cookies about 1/2 cm thick and arrange on the baking paper.
  13. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until golden and set.
  14. Cool completely and keep in a sealed jar.
  • Keep the cookies in a sealed jar at room temperature for up to a week.
  • You can freeze the dough rectangles, well wrapped, for up to a month.
  • Instead of a chess shape you can make a spiral: roll out the two types of dough to 2 thin rectangulars, place one on top of the other and roll into a roll. Cool, slice into cookies and bake.