Checkerboard Cookies

I've been missing for a while because I've been on holiday and it was a good trip with an old friend of about 18 years and this was our first trip together to Hong Kong. Though I think Hong Kong is really congested, I enjoyed the food and most of all the company. We had 3 other people who were coincidentally in Hong Kong at the same time and we ended up travelling together. I must say that they added a lot of fun to the trip and I was a little surprise because even friends may not be able to travel together and this group was an accidental success. We got along really well and I think this is because we are all compromising and just took things easy even if we got lost, walked too much or ate too full. Thank God for this trip and these people who made us laugh so hard.

This was baked long time ago, but I did not the energy to update.

I've always wondered how these are made and so when I saw the episode covering these cookies on 'Bake with Anna Olson', I had to give these a try. 

(Makes about 40 cookies)

For the vanilla dough
315g all purpose flour
115g icing sugar
100g caster sugar
227g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
0.5 tsp salt

For the chocolate dough
250g all purpose flour
115g icing sugar
100g caster sugar
45g cocoa powder
227g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
0.5 tsp salt

To make the vanilla dough

1. Beat the butter, caster and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. I used the paddle attachment.

2. Add the vanilla extract, eggs and egg yolk and beat till combined.

3. Add the flour and salt and mix till the dough comes together.

4. Shape into 2 discs and wrap with cling wrap and chill till firm.

To make the chocolate dough

5. Beat the butter, caster and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. I used the paddle attachment. 

6. Add the vanilla extract, eggs and egg yolk and beat till combined.

7. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and mix till the dough comes together. 

8. Shape into 2 discs and wrap with cling wrap and chill till firm. 

To assemble

9. You'll use one vanilla and one chocolate dough to make the checkerboard patterns and reserve the other set of vanilla and chocolate dough for the outer wrap. Cut one of the chilled vanilla and one of the chocolate dough in 2 and roll to a rough rectangle of 20cm by 12cm. You'll end up with 2 vanilla and 2 chocolate rectangular doughs. The other set of vanilla and chocolate will still be resting in the fridge. 

10. Brush the surface of a chocolate dough with water and place a vanilla one on top of it and alternate the colours for the other 2 doughs, brushing the surface with water to make sure the surface stick. 

11. Trim the edges of the assembled dough to make a rectangle. Chill the dough for about 15 min so it's easier to handle.

12. Cut strips of about 1.2cm thick lengthwise, you'll need about 8 strips to make 2 checkered doughs of 4 strips each put together. 

13. Brush the surface of one of the chocolate dough with water and place a vanilla one on top, alternating the colours, repeating 2 more strips. You'll have 2 rectangular checkerboard doughs (see below). Chill the dough for about 15 minutes.

14. Use the reserved vanilla dough, roll out into rectangle and wrap the dough around one of the checkerboard rectangle. Chill the dough for about 2 hours. When ready to bake, slice the dough into cookies of about 0.5 cm. Bake in preheated oven of 180 degrees for about 12 minutes and you'll see the checkerboard patterns as shown below at the lower end of the tray. 

15. Use the reserved chocolate dough, roll out into rectangle and wrap the dough around one of the checkerboard rectangle. Chill the dough for about 2 hours. When ready to bake, slice the dough into cookies of about 0.5cm. Bake in preheated oven of 180 degrees for about 12 minutes and you'll see the checkerboard patterns as shown above at the upper end of the tray. 

I froze the cookie dough and baked them on 2 occasions and I this is a great dough to keep handy in the fridge, to be sliced and baked with you need a quick treat last minute.