Checkerboard Cookies

Name: Checkerboard Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 cup unsalted butter (2 stick/226 grams, at room temperature); 2/3 cup granulated white sugar (150 grams ); 2 3/4 cup all purpose flour (358 grams); 1 tablespoon + 1-2 teaspoons milk (divided); 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

By Manali Singh

5 from 2 votes

Dec 13, 2018, Updated May 07, 2023

Easy and fun Checkerboard Cookies are eggless with the goodness of both vanilla and chocolate! These will make a great addition to your holiday cookie party!

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Eggless Checkerboard Cookies with goodness of vanilla and chocolate. These simple buttery cookies will be a fun addition to your holiday cookie tray!

stack of checkerboard cookies with a bottle of milk in the background

Cookie season is here and I had to share a cookie recipe with you guys before it’s over! I have been meaning to try Checkerboard Cookies forever and what better than the holidays to test the recipe.

Okay, so my checkerboard cookies don’t look very neat, lol. I have seen some really perfect ones so I know these aren’t all that but I still had fun making them and they tasted good so I had to share on the blog.

I love easy cookie recipes, you know which you can make with basic pantry essentials and these are just that. I am pretty sure you must be having most of these ingredients in your pantry already!

What are Checkerboard Cookies?

Checkerboard cookies have alternate strips of vanilla and chocolate dough, hence giving the appearance of a checkerboard.

The dough for these cookies is made with basic pantry essentials like butter, sugar and flour.

One part of the dough is flavored with vanilla and the other with cocoa powder, so it’s like a good of both worlds! You know when you can’t choose between vanilla and chocolate, the checkboard cookies are the answer to that dilemma!

While the dough is simple, the trick lies in making the checkerboard appearance. As you guys can see, I did an okay job but definitely not a great job at it. All these artistic, symmetrical things are just not my forte, basically I suck at them.

If you ask me to draw a straight line or measure this and cut it in equal parts, you can be very sure that I will mess it up. 100%

How to make Checkerboard Cookies

So, like I mentioned above you have two cookie dough – vanilla and chocolate.

Once you have them ready, you have to roll the dough and then stack them in a way that it forms a checkerboard appearance.

Then you just wrap the dough, let it chill and then slice and bake.

So basically, the cookie recipe is really simple, it’s just the rolling and re-arranging the dough that takes time. These are basic vanilla and chocolate buttery cookies so there is nothing extra-ordinary going on here flavor-wise.

But what makes them fun is the checkerboard appearance. These are also great cookies to bake with your kids. I am sure they will have fun rolling and arranging the dough.

These checkerboard cookies are eggless since I like them this way.

These cookies can be soft or crunchy, it’s up to you! If you notice the baking time in the recipe, it says 15 to 20 minutes. And that’s because you can bake them to whatever texture you prefer.

15 minutes @ 350 F: soft cookies

20 minutes @ 350 F: crunchy cookies

I personally like them crunchy because I am just used to such cookies with my chai. If you like soft cookie, just bake them for around 15 minutes.

Once you have baked them, let cool and then store in an airtight container and enjoy!

Method

1- Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment or a hand mixer, beat sugar and butter for 2 to 3 minutes until light and creamy.

2- Then add in the flour and mix until it’s all mixed in together and the flour mix resemble crumbs.

3- Then add 1 tablespoon milk and mix until it all comes together as a dough.

4- If using a hand mixer, you might need to use your hands to bring it all together as a dough.

Once your dough is ready, divide the dough into 2 equal parts. Total weight of the dough here was 750 grams so I divided into 2 parts of 350 grams each.

Take one part of the dough and put it into the mixer again, add 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and mix until well combined.

Now take the vanilla dough out, wipe the mixer with a paper towel and put the chocolate dough into the mixer. Add the cocoa powder and 1 to 2 teaspoons of milk (as needed if the dough feels dry) and mix until it all mixes together.

Now shape both the dough in a square shape, wrap with a cling sheet and chill in the refrigerator for around 20 minutes.

Draw squares of 7 to 8 inch on two sheets of parchment paper. Roll the chilled dough into square shapes (try to fit in with in the square that you have drawn), trim the edges to make it clean.

Now cut the rolled vanilla and chocolate dough into 3 equal parts each.

Then take one dough part from each rolled dough and transfer it to the other one and stack them together on top of one another. So now you will have 2 stacks with alternating layers of vanilla>chocolate>vanilla and another stack with chocolate>vanilla>chocolate.

Now cut each stacked log into 3 parts again (length wise).

Now take the middle strip from each log and exchange again and press lightly.

Now take one dough log and place it on top of the other, lengthwise. Lightly press the dough together, trim uneven ends and wrap the dough log. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Cut the chilled cookie log into 1/4 inch thick slices. You will get around 30 to 35 cookies.

Arrange cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave little space between each cookie.

Bake at 350 F degrees for 15 to 20 mins (15 mins for softer cookies and 20 for crunchy cookie)!

Enjoy checkerboard cookies with a glass of milk!

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