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.
Photo: Natalie Levin
Black and White Chess Cookies
Servings 40 cookies
Ingredients
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
Instructions
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Chocolate dough: in a food processor with a steel blade, put butter, powdered sugar, flour and cocoa and blend until crumbly mixture forms.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Preheat the oven to 170c degrees and arrange baking paper on 2 baking pans.
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Slice the rectangles into cookies about 1/2 cm thick and arrange on the baking paper.
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Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, or until golden and set.
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Cool completely and keep in a sealed jar.
Recipe Notes
- 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.