![Easy Checkerboard Cookies - German Recipe step by step [+Video] made from scratch with the easy to understand instructions. Checkerboard cookies are also known as black and white cookies, Schwarz-weiß-gebäck in german. www.MasalaHerb.com #cookies #blackandwhite #checkered #masalaherb](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Easy-Checkerboard-Cookies-German-Recipe-step-by-step-4-150x150.jpg)
Checkerboard cookies are noticeable and your guests are going to be amazed by your baking skills!
You can make these pretty black and white checkerboard cookies easily at home in less then an hour.
![Easy Checkerboard Cookies - German Recipe step by step [+Video] made from scratch with the easy to understand instructions. Checkerboard cookies are also known as black and white cookies, Schwarz-weiß-gebäck in german. www.MasalaHerb.com #cookies #blackandwhite #checkered #masalaherb](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Easy-Checkerboard-Cookies-German-Recipe-step-by-step-3.jpg)
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Watch, read and learn further below how to make perfect-looking checkerboard cookies easily at home with my German step-by-step recipe instructions + quick video:
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Whenever I would get a batch of these stark contrasted checkerboard cookies from family and friends in a Christmas cookie swap back in Austria, I would always see these cookies FIRST in a tin box before noticing any other cookies.
Checkerboard cookies are a variation of black and white cookies.
We call these cookies in German (which translates into) Schwarz-Weiß-Gebäck.
Besides the conventional checkerboard design, you can prepares different shapes and variations of black and white cookies such as:
- Pin-wheels
- Yin Yang Cookies
- Stars, hearts and other shapes
- black and white striped layers
- Tetris themed cookies =D
![Easy Checkerboard Cookies - German Recipe step by step [+Video] made from scratch with the easy to understand instructions. Checkerboard cookies are also known as black and white cookies, Schwarz-weiß-gebäck in german. www.MasalaHerb.com #cookies #blackandwhite #checkered #masalaherb](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Easy-Checkerboard-Cookies-German-Recipe-step-by-step-2.jpg)
You can get quite creative that way and if you have time you can come up with a few more ideas. - Share with us your creations, let us know in a comment below!
I personally like the checkerboard design the most.
It looks neat for the eyes and the most impressive due to the straight lines.
Also checkerboard cookies are super easy to make and the cookies will give the impression that you have worked long hours in the kitchen.
So let's get going, shall we?
![Easy Checkerboard Cookies - German Recipe step by step [+Video] made from scratch with the easy to understand instructions. Checkerboard cookies are also known as black and white cookies, Schwarz-weiß-gebäck in german. www.MasalaHerb.com #cookies #blackandwhite #checkered #masalaherb](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Easy-Checkerboard-Cookies-German-Recipe-step-by-step-1.jpg)
🔪 How to make easy Checkerboard cookies step by step?
Checkerboard cookies are NOT rocket science if you know how to prepare them systematically.
The point is to keep things ready and to follow the instructions precisely so that you can make easy checkerboard cookies in no time!
I am showing you in the video how to make the easiest checkerboard design.
You can make a more complicated design by working with more layers.
I personally stick to the simplest version because they are easier to handle, still look good and the cookies don't tend to break that easily too in the cookies box when they are that small in size.
You could also prepare a cube version, which I have seen in Austria as well, however the chance of under cooking the center and over cooking the outside is higher.
The point of a perfect cookie is not just the taste but also the looks!
Don't you agree?
The ingredient amounts are listed in the printable recipe card further below.
Stick to the exact ingredient amounts so that you succeed with your homemade black and white checkerboard cookies.
Eventually, you will have to just adjust the baking time as this depends on your oven.
Stick to the same heat but give the cookies 1-2 minutes less baking time from my suggested time.
In that case, you have to keep an eye on your first batch and watch out for any discoloring of the white cookie side.
Otherwise baking black and white checkerboard cookies is really a breeze and fun at the same time.
That means baking checkerboard cookies is also suitable as a family.
Prepare and bake the cookies with your kids!
By the way, your checkerboard cookies are great all year round as coffee table biscuits and ironically they are my ultimate energy pick up when I am strategizing a checkmate in my game.
👁️ More Cookies for the soul
![Easy Checkerboard Cookies - German Recipe step by step [+Video] made from scratch with the easy to understand instructions. Checkerboard cookies are also known as black and white cookies, Schwarz-weiß-gebäck in german. www.MasalaHerb.com #cookies #blackandwhite #checkered #masalaherb](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Easy-Checkerboard-Cookies-German-Recipe-step-by-step-4.jpg)
Dear Reader, how did you get to know about checkered cookies?
Did you see them or did you taste them somewhere before?
![Easy Checkerboard Cookies - German Recipe step by step [+Video] made from scratch with the easy to understand instructions. Checkerboard cookies are also known as black and white cookies, Schwarz-weiß-gebäck in german. www.MasalaHerb.com #cookies #blackandwhite #checkered #masalaherb](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Easy-Checkerboard-Cookies-pin.jpg)
📖 Recipe
![Easy Checkerboard Cookies - German Recipe step by step [+Video] made from scratch with the easy to understand instructions. Checkerboard cookies are also known as black and white cookies, Schwarz-weiß-gebäck in german. www.MasalaHerb.com #cookies #blackandwhite #checkered #masalaherb](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Easy-Checkerboard-Cookies-German-Recipe-step-by-step-4-300x300.jpg)
Checkerboard Cookies
Ingredients
For the white dough:
- ¼ cup Butter salted soft
- 3 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
- ½ Egg Scrambled
- 2-4 drops Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
For the black dough
- ¼ cup Butter salted soft
- 3 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
- ½ Egg Scrambled
- ¾ cup All Purpose Flour
- ¼ cup Cocoa Powder Unsweetened unsweetened
Instructions
- First prepare the white dough by adding the soft butter to a mixing bowl together with the sugar and ½ amount of one scrambled egg and vanilla essence. Mix and whisk the content to a smooth pastry.
- Then sieve the flour into the pastry mixture so that it's easier to mix the whole content into a dough. Create a smooth looking dough. It will form itself into a lovely smooth dough at some point as you can see in the video. Make sure to not use your hands for that, use a cake spatula, because the body heat will just make it all too soft.
- Then form into a brick of about 2 inch thickness and wrap into a clean wrap. Place into the fridge for at least 30 minutes so that the dough gets hard again.
- Then you prepare the black dough the same way. Add the butter to the mixing bowl with the remaining egg and the sugar as mentioned in the ingredients list. Mix and whisk to a smooth paste
- Then sieve the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl with the pastry and repeat the process of creating a smooth dough with the baking spatula.
- Shape the dark dough into the same size as the white dough (that's important for later!) and wrap into clean wrap as well and place into the fridge for 30 minutes minimum as well.
- Take out the 2 bricks of dough from the fridge and unwrap one first and then the other one. Start with the white one, cut into half lengthwise, and then again the half pieces into half so that you have 4 regular sized pieces. Do the same with the black brick.
- Then take one white and one black into your hand and press them together. Do that once again with 2 other pieces and then place the two sets as shown in the video together but in a way so that you can see a chess motive emerge. You could continue adding rows that way for a bigger cookie in length if you like by cutting that brick into half.
- Make sure to press the whole stitched together block of white and black so that each surface is equal and smooth and so that the parts stick well together in the center. The aim is to have almost straight looking cookie walls. Then wrap the block of dough once again into clean wrap and keep in the fridge for another 30 minutes so that later you can cut it easily into equal sized slices. The dough gets soft in time with the warmth of the hands, that is absolutely normal.
- just before taking out the dough from the fridge, preheat the oven to 180 Celsius/356 Fahrenheit so that the oven gets hot enough.
- After the block has cooled again in the fridge and is hard enough, take it out of the clean wrap and cut into about 1 cm/0.4 inch thick slices so that you have a few cookies.
- Keep a baking tray ready with a baking paper and place the cookies 2 cm/0.8 inch apart from each other onto the baking paper. Bake at 180 Celsius/356 Fahrenheit for about 10-12 minutes. Keep an eye on your cookies in the oven and reduce or add 1-2 minutes depending if the cookies are over baking (turning yellow on the white cookie side) or are under baked. The cookies should be baked but should not change color.
- Once bake let cool and directly store afterwards. For a dry climate use a cookie tin box with baking paper and some apple skin to lock the moisture into the cookies. For a humid climate, keep the cookies in an airtight container.
Reminds me of my childhood. Mom use to buy this cookie for us. This cookies looks delicious.
These cookies are so beautiful, and I love that they look so difficult, but really aren't. I'm inspired to try these!
The checkerboard look is awesome! Love the video tutorial too, really helpful 🙂
These would look so nice on the holiday sweets table. Love the vanilla/chocolate effect...and the flavours go so well together. Great post.
These are so cute -- and the video is great. I think Santa wants these on his plate this year.
these look so cute! will have to give them a go!
Yum! I love baking this time of year. These cookies just made it on my to make list!!
These look like really great and delicious cookies. I will have to try these recipes soon,
They look so fancy! I love checkerboard cookies - plus they're delicious too. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Adding this one to my "to make" list 🙂
Does it have a crumbly texture? Cause if yes I'll try to make it even though I really suck in the kitchen.
yes it does 🙂
You will be fine, just make sure to follow the steps properly.
Schwarz-Weiß-Gebäck is a favorite of my son's! Yours looks wonderful. Such a beautiful striking cooking for the holidays.
Those are such awesome cookies! I like how artsy it is. I should try this.
I personally love buying them from the bakery...as I thought it is tedious shaping the dough into checks!
This recipe seems easy but then do you also have an eggless version of the same??!!
TIA!
Oh I would not attempt to make these egg-less. The egg helps in binding the dough and if you keep that out, they won't stick together that well. You can try but your cookies won't stick together except if you find another tasteless vegan binding ingredient to substitute the eggs.
Loved the design making part of your video. I was curious to know how you get those two colors so cleanly. You definitely make it sound simple. It seems making Yin Yang or any other design would need some artistic skill or a very stable hand for cutting the dough correctly.
Do they do that mechanically when they make it for the market?
I think they use machine and tools to cut those out. Personally, as you can see, I am not after 100% straight lines. After all it should be easy for anybody to reproduce them at home and if you start measuring the lines, you suck the fun out of the baking experience. That's my personal point of view. 🙂
The video is helpful. I am not much of a baker, but maybe with this recipe I can fool a couple of people. I will totally share with people where I got the recipe from:)
Perfect timing, I've always wanted to make these cookies!
I saw these on Instagram and thought they were beautiful. A lovely presentation that looks like it would be hard work, but thanks to your video, it's obviously quite easy! I think I tried making these in my early days but I got bored sometime through the process and ended up with just plain chocolate and white cookies and not checkboard.
We spent the month of November in Arizona and I thought I'd have lots of time to blog and comment, not quite...we were very busy. I hope you can pop by and see some of our trip from last week's post and this week's post.
I know what you mean, that's why I make the checkerboard cookies painless easy. ;D
I will try to pop by, I think so Christmas time is just getting busier every year!
These cookies look so cute!
The video was really helpful. I made an attempt once at making checkerboard cookies but I guess I did not leave the dough set in the fridge enough so they were not as neat as yours.
Every time i see a 'black and white' cookie I immediately remember that Seinfeld episode! 🙂 Checkerboard cookies are such fun - nice video to show how you made them!
These are great! I can see my kids eating them a square at a time.
I love butter cookie recipes and the checkerboard design really does make these cookies stand out! What a fabulous cookie. And thanks for the video--SO helpful.
These are really striking to look at - I can see why they are a great addition to a cookie tin. Really helpful to have a video to see how to put together the dough too!