Checkerboard and Pinwheel Christmas Cookies

Schwarz-Weiss Geback

This is my friend Nina’s favourite Checkerboard and Pinwheel Christmas cookies and now also a favourite of mine. Nina is originally from Stuttgart, a city famous for precise German Engineering and is the manufacturing hub of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. No wonder then, that even her treasured checkerboard Christmas cookies look like precision engineered.

In my view, this cookie is too delicious to be made just for Christmas. It is buttery and crisp and depending on your craft skills and patience, you can make simple patterns with just four squares or you can go all out and do sixteen squares as in the photo.

This dough can also be shaped as pinwheels and is even easier to assemble. All you need to do is stack the vanilla and chocolate dough together, roll it into a log, slice it and bake per recipe and you’ve got swirling pinwheels.

What you need to make Checkerboard and Pinwheel Cookies

It might look complicated, but it is actually quite straightforward to make and requires only a few pantry staples which you probably already have on hand.

• Butter – use high quality European style butter with a high fat content.
• Caster Sugar – fine grained sugar, ideal for baking
• Pinch of Salt
• Vanilla Essence
• Egg for egg wash
• Plain Flour

How to Shape the Pinwheel Cookies

• Make the vanilla and chocolate dough per the recipe
• Stack the dough on top of each other, making sure the edges are square.
• Roll tightly into a log. Trim both ends if you want perfect cookies. I don’t bother trimming, I keep the ends for taste tasting.
• Slice into 1 cm thick cookies.
• Bake per the recipe.

How to Shape the Checkerboard Christmas Cookies

• Cream the butter sugar vanilla and salt together until pale and fluffy.
• Divide dough by 2. Return one portion to the mixing bowl and add cocoa powder, then mix until just combined.
• Form into 2 by 6×6 inch square, one vanilla and one chocolate. Wrap with cling plastic and set aside in the fridge to firm up.
• Cut and stack into a chequered pattern, alternating vanilla and chocolate. Brush surface of the cookie dough you’re joining together with egg wash to help them stick.
• To make the checkerboard shapes, it’s just a matter of cutting the dough straight(use a ruler and a sharp knife) and stacking them together to make the square shapes.
  

• Lay the vanilla square cookie dough on the work surface
• Brush the top of the dough with egg wash
• Place the chocolate square dough on top of the vanilla square
• Mark the middle point and use a ruler to cut into two pieces, then brush the top surface with egg wash . Place one piece on top of each other, making sure the edges are square
• Use a ruler to mark out and cut 8 strips of equal size . Brush one side of one strip with egg wash and place a second strip on top alternating the colour. Press the two together gently. Repeat with the other two strips alternating colours to make a square log. Four strips joined together makes a square log.
  
• Make another square log with the remaining four strips. Wrap and place in the fridge to set for 30 minutes.
• Bake as per recipe directions.

Checkerboard Cookies (Schwarz-Weiss Geback)

Recipe by Lola Adele

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: DessertCuisine: GermanDifficulty: Medium

Servings

24+

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 150g unsalted butter

• 75g caster sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

• 1 2/3 cup plain flour

• 2 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder

• Egg wash

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

• Place butter vanilla salt and caster sugar in a mixer with paddle attached. Beat on medium until butter is light and fluffy about 3 minutes.
• Remove half of the dough from the mixing bowl and form into a 6×6 inch vanilla square. Wrap in cling plastic. Set aside in the fridge for at least an hour.
• Sift cocoa powder into the other half of the dough. Mix on low until the cocoa powder is just incorporated. Scoop out the dough into a piece of cling wrap and form into a 6×6 inch square. Set aside in the fridge to set for 1 hour. You now have two cookie dough squares one vanilla and one chocolate.
• To make pinwheels, lay the vanilla square on the work surface. Brush the top with egg wash using pastry brush. Lay the chocolate square on top of the vanilla and press together carefully. Roll tightly into a log. Cut into 1 centimetre thick circles. Bake as directed below.
  
• For the checkerboard design. Lay the vanilla square from step 2 on the work surface. Brush lightly with egg wash. Lay the chocolate square (from step 3) on top making sure the edges are square and lined up.
• Mark with a ruler and cut into 2 x 6 inch pieces. Brush top of one with egg wash and place the other piece on top with alternating coloured layers.
• Cut into 8 equal strips. Stack four strips together to make a square log, alternating colour for the checkerboard effect. Repeat for the other 4 strips. You should have 2 square logs.
• Wrap and chill the logs for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 180°C . Line baking trays with baking paper.
  
• Slice the logs into 1 cm pieces and carefully place in the baking tray with 2 cm space between each.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Cool in trays then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Will keep for 2 weeks in an airtight container.

Notes

• Will keep for 2 weeks in an airtight container.