Checkboard Cookies
 
Ingredients
  • 5½ cups flour
  • 1 Tsp Baking Powder
  • ½ Tsp Salt
  • 4 Sticks of room temperature butter
  • 1½ Tbsp Vanilla extract
  • 2 large Eggs
  • ⅔ Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Instructions
  1. Sift the baking soda, flour and salt together in a bowl.
  2. In a separate bowl in your mixer, cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs, one by one and then the vanilla.
  3. One cup at a time, add the flour mixture using your dough hook. Sprinkle flour on your surface and remove dough from mixer. Continue to knead together, but don't over-work the dough.
  4. Divide the dough in half. Place half of it on your surface and fold in the cocoa powder until well-distributed.
  5. Cut each dough in half and form into two logs of each flavor. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about 2 hours.
  6. Take out one of each flavor and allow to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Roll out on a floured surface into a long rectangle about a foot long and 6 inches wide and ½ inch in thickness. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 9 strips. Do this with the other flavor.
  7. Layer the strips on top of each other 3 in a row, 3 high; vanilla, chocolate, vanilla and so on. Dampen your fingers and fuse them together with water. Do this the opposite way with the other pieces. You should have two logs. Wrap them in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.
  8. Pull out the other solid logs and sit them at room temperature for 20 minutes. Roll out on a flowered surface about a foot long and ¼ of an inch thick. Place the log with the mostly chocolate pieces on the vanilla dough and wrap it around the checkerboard. Make sure to use a little bit of water to act as a glue and lightly apply it to the inner surface. Seal up any cracks and smooth them out with a small amount of water as well. Use a light hand.
  9. Do the same with the mostly vanilla log. Place both logs back in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours (or overnight).
  10. To bake, take each log out, one at a time, and cut with a sharp knife into ½ inch cookies. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 17-20 minutes on 350 Degrees F until to bottoms are golden brown. Cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before storing or eating.
Notes
You can freeze the logs once they are complete and thaw to bake later.
Recipe by Saved By Grace at https://savedbygraceblog.com/checkerboard-cookies/