Checkerboard Cookies

We posted this recipe last year and thought it could use an upgrade into a classic checkerboard cookie. The dual vanilla and chocolate dough look sharp together. 

Checkerboard Cookies
~ adapted from Bon Appetit
2⅓ cups (324 g) Flourist Sifted Red Fife Flour, divided
1½ tsp salt, divided
⅓ cup (33 g) cocoa powder
1¼ cups (284 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
⅔ cup (144 g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (35 g) powdered sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste

Whisk 1⅓ cups flour and ¾ tsp salt in a medium bowl. Whisk cocoa powder, remaining 1 cup of flour, and remaining ¾ tsp salt in another medium bowl. These are the bases for your chocolate and vanilla doughs.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Divide mixture between the 2 bowls of dry ingredients (about 1 cup in each). Scrape the vanilla mixture back into stand mixer bowl (save the mixing bowl) and beat on low speed just until combined. Return to reserved bowl. Repeat process with chocolate mixture.

Roll the vanilla cookie dough into a log and compress it into a rectangular shape. Do the same with the chocolate cookie dough, ensuring that it is the same size. Wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate both for one hour until well chilled.

Square off the top and bottom of both rectangles to ensure that they stack nice and neatly. Take the chocolate dough and brush one side with the unused egg white. Stack the vanilla dough on top and press slightly to adhere them together. Cut in half lengthwise. Flip one side so that the checkerboard pattern is created and seal the two pieces together with egg white. Press to adhere them together then square off all sides. Take the scrap dough that you trimmed off each side and separate it back into chocolate and vanilla. Roll each out until nice and thin. Cut the checkerboard log in half so that you can cover one half in chocolate dough and the other in vanilla.

Take one half of the cut dough and brush one side with egg white. Press it onto the end of one of the rolled out doughs and brush the other sides with egg white. Encase the dough in the cookie dough and trim and neaten the edges. Repeat with the other half and the other cookie dough. Wrap both well and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325°F and place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Unwrap dough, working with one at a time. Slice into square checkerboards a generous ¼" thick, rotating after every few cuts to keep slices and edges squared off. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through until the edges are just set, 12–14 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets.