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Family-friendly meals made easy!
Make everyday family moments count, with easy recipes that everyone will love. Join our email community to receive tested recipes and tips.
Make everyday family moments count, with easy recipes that everyone will love. Join our email community to receive tested recipes and tips.
You’re just three ingredients away from striking Checkerboard Cookies that look straight from a bakery case. This shortcut checkerboard cookie recipe uses refrigerated sugar cookie dough to make it easy to evenly portion and shape clean, uniform 2x2 logs—so every slice reveals a perfectly defined chocolate and sugar cookie checkerboard pattern. These easy Checkerboard Cookies are perfect for holiday baking, cookie trays, or anytime you’re craving a simple homemade sweet with impressive bakery-style results and minimal effort.
With a few ingredients, you can whip up these easy Checkerboard Cookies. Here’s what you need.
Refrigerated Pillsbury™ Ready to Bake!™ Sugar Cookie Dough: Ready to Bake!™ dough makes it easy to divide to make the chocolate and plain cookie portions of dough, while of course delivering a tender, delicious cookie.
All-Purpose Flour: Mixing in a bit of flour helps firm up the dough, so it’s easier to shape into uniform logs of dough, and the checkerboard pattern will stay pristine in the oven.
Dutch-Processed Unsweetened Baking Cocoa: We like Dutch-processed cocoa because it gives the chocolate dough a rich, smooth flavor and very deep, dark color that contrasts beautifully with the sugar cookie dough. You can use natural cocoa if you choose, but the chocolate color will be lighter, so your checkerboard pattern will be less dramatic and the flavor slightly more classic and slightly tangier.
Here’s a look at how to make these easy Checkerboard Cookies. Follow the recipe for more details!
Separate the dough into two bowls. Add flour and cocoa powder to one bowl and just flour to the other. Mix well.
Starting with the sugar cookie dough, shape the dough into a long log, then flatten the edges to make a square log. Repeat with the chocolate dough, then freeze both square logs until firm.
Slice each log in half lengthwise, then stack one chocolate slab on top of one sugar cookie slab to make a bi-colored square log. Repeat with remaining slabs, pressing to adhere them together. Slice down the middle lengthwise of each bi-colored square log, making 4 striped slabs.
Stack one striped slab on top of another, alternating the colors to create a checkerboard pattern. Press to adhere the slabs together, reshaping into a square log with sharp edges if needed. Repeat with the other two slabs, then freeze both checkerboard logs until firm.
Slice the checkerboard logs into 1/2-inch slices, and place on prepared baking sheets. Bake until lightly golden brown. Enjoy!
Here’s how to store any leftover Checkerboard Cookies.
Keep Checkerboard Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
You can store the cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
For even longer storage, keep cookies in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Separate the dough in half, and add each half to a separate medium bowl. To one bowl, add 2 tablespoons flour, and knead or mix the dough until smooth and combined. To the other bowl, add remaining 2 tablespoons flour and baking cocoa. (DO NOT EAT RAW COOKIE DOUGH AFTER COMBINING WITH FLOUR.) Mix until smooth and well combined.
Take the dough from one bowl, and turn it out onto your work surface. Roll into a log about 8 1/2 inches long. Using a flat object like a cutting board or a bench scraper, gently flatten the sides of the log to shape it into a square log about about 8 1/2 inches long and 1-inch wide. Set aside, and repeat with remaining dough. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and freeze for about 30 minutes, until dough is firm but sliceable.
Once chilled, cut each log in half lengthwise so there are two white slabs and two black slabs. Stack one white slab on top of one black slab creating a new square log. Repeat with the remaining slabs. Gently press to adhere the slabs together, reshaping into a square log with sharp edges as needed.
Slice each combined log lengthwise so there are four striped slabs. Stack one slab on top of another, alternating the top and bottom color so it forms a checkerboard pattern. Gently press slabs together to adhere, reshaping as needed. Repeat with remaining two slabs of dough.
Wrap and freeze the checkerboard logs until firm but sliceable, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, adjust oven racks so two shelves are positioned near the center of the oven, leaving enough space between them for air to circulate evenly around both baking sheets. Heat oven to 350°F (or 325°F for nonstick baking sheets). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cut the logs into 1/2-inch slices. Place the checkerboard slices about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake 7 to 10 minutes, until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute, then remove from baking sheets to cool completely.
While shaping the dough, it’s important to keep the edges flat and sharp. We find it easiest to use a combination of a bench scraper or a clean ruler and a flat cutting board to get clean, sharp edges without making the dough too soft from the heat of your hands.
This recipe was developed and tested with both baking sheets in the oven at the same time, and in most ovens, they should bake evenly without needing to rotate the pans. However, if your oven tends to bake unevenly or has noticeable hot spots, you can rotate the baking sheets halfway through baking by switching the top and bottom pans and turning each sheet 180 degrees to promote more even browning and baking.
