Black And White Cookies
Full Of Contrast And Geometry

Rich in contrast black and white cookies are eye-catching. With cinnamon, nutmeg and glove added the taste of Christmas is in the air. With crushed walnuts and orange essence the cookies obtain an elegant twist.

So again a flexible cookie that can be either simple or have a complex twist.

Original recipe:
Ingredients to make black and white cookies:

• 3 cups of flour (spelt)
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar (brown)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 1/2 teaspoon of rum essence
• 2 eggs
• 250g of butter (room temperature)

Split dough in half and add to one half:

• 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of milk

and

• 1 egg white to stick different dough layers together
  

Alternatives:
First optional addition for a spiced alternative:

• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1/3 teaspoon of ground cloves

Second optional addition using walnuts:

• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon of orange essence

Utensils:

• Bowl
• Rolling pin
• Baking board
• Cutting knife
• Brush
• Tray
• Baking paper
  

Step by step bake black and white cookies:

Preheat the oven to 180C°. Convert! Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the light dough shows a slight golden colour.

1. Mix the three cups of flour, the one and a half cups of sugar and the two teaspoons of baking powder, one teaspoon of vanilla essence and half a teaspoon of rum essence in a bowl. Now add the two eggs and the 250 grams of softened butter (room temperature) and knead the dough until it turns into a smooth ball. 
2. Split the dough into two halves, to one half add 3 tablespoons of cocoa, 1/4 cup of sugar and  two tablespoons of milk. Knead the additional ingredients into the dough. Leave the other half as it is.
3. Cool both halves of the dough in the fridge for one hour or more.
4. Make different designs with the dark and light dough stuck together with the egg white.  Define stripes, spirals or checker board patterns. In fact your you can let your creativity take charge in this step.
   
   4.1. Spirals:
   Roll out one third of the dark dough into a rectangular shape. Roll out about one third of the light dough. Keep the rolled light dough at the same length as the  rolled dark dough but keep it about 2 cm skinnier. Brush the dark dough with egg white and place the light dough in the centre of the dark dough.
   
   Now, brush the top of the light dough too, and start rolling tightly from the long side. You may brush the dough with a bit more egg white along the closing length to close the roll neatly. Wrap some cling wrap around the roll and place it back into the fridge to set.
   
   4.2. Big checkered board:
   Take the other third of the white and of the dark dough and roll it until both colors have a equally sized rectangular shape and a thickness of about 1 cm. Stick them above each other with the help of brushed on egg white.
   
   Cut through the length of the dough strips of  about 1 cm thick. Use the egg white to glue the strips together so the a rectangle is created that has the dimension 4 by 4 , glue them together so that the dark dough always meets the light dough. Wrap the rectangle and place it into the fridge to set.
   
   
5. Finally to cut the individual cookies take the cooled rolls/rectangles out of
   the fridge and swiftly cut them into slices that are about 6 mm thick, before placing them on a tray lined with baking paper.
6. Bake the black and white cookies for 10-15 minutes at 180C°.

What is your favorite pattern when you bake black and white cookies? And how do you get this result? Share it.

All recipes have been tried and tasted by me and my family.

Copyright © 2011-2023 Mariam Cissé. All rights reserved.