Checkerboard, or pinwheel, cookies are elegant and surprisingly easy. They are delicious cookies that are sure to have the eaters impressed. This recipe is from “The Little Guides: Cookies” with an adaption for baking in your microwave.

What you need:

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 and 1/4 cups all-purpose (plain) flour

1/3 cup unsweetened (bitter)

    chocolate, melted and cooled

Large mixing bowl

Electric mixer (optional)

Large (wooden) spoon

Baking Sheet for the oven

    or

Microwave-safe plate for the microwave

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter or margarine with the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and baking powder till combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer. Stir any remaining flour in with a wooden spoon. Divide dough in half.

(how do we get the melted chocolate) Knead melted chocolate into half of dough till combined. Shape plain and chocolate halves of dough into two 8 inch logs. Cover and chill for 2 hours or until firm. Cut each log lengthwise into quarters and reassemble logs, alternating chocolate and vanilla quarters. Cover and refrigerate for 15 to 30 minutes or until well chilled.

Cut dough into 1/4 inch thick slices.

Range

Place dough slices 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake in a 375 degree preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or till edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned.

Microwave

Place dough slices 2 inches apart on an ungreased microwave-safe plate.

If you have a spiffy microwave with different settings, find  the “bake” setting, and microwave cookies for 5 and 1/2 to 6 minutes.

If your microwave is just the on/off type, microwave for about 3 to 3 and 1/2 minutes.

In either case, all microwaves tend to act differently, so keep a close eye on your cookies and try to find the time that works best with your microwave.

Tips and Substitutions

• Baker’s chocolate is recommended for baking, but semi-sweet chocolate chips will work just as well and are cheaper and often more commonly available in any given kitchen.

• It is important to have soft butter. It will mix better with your sugars and will make it easier all around. With this, though, it is important not to melt your butter. The consistency, flavor, and shape can be negatively impacted by melted butter both before and after baking.

• An electric mixer is fast and easy but not necessary. A large stiff spoon (wooden is wonderful) will work the whole way through. Or, if you’re baking just for yourself (and people who approve) it’s always fun to literally hand mix and dig your fingers into the dough. Wash your hands!

• The checkerboard pattern is quick and easy yet gives the appearance of effort, but it’s not the only way to go. Instead of a checkerboard, try to create other shapes in your cookies. Get creative.

• Any colour and/or flavour of chocolate can be used instead of unsweetened chocolate. Try adding red white chocolate chips to the vanilla half of the dough for a different colour combination. Or just add a few drops of food colouring. Again, creativity is the key.

• This recipe makes approximately 64 small cookies. Unfortunately, only one egg is called for, so there is no easy way to half the recipe, so make sure you have someone else around to help you eat them.

Interesting Fact

• In the 1958 Betty Crocker Cookbook, as well as most all cookbooks written before the 1950’s and 60’s, cookie was spelt cooky. One rarely talks of a cooky though, instead people talk of cookies. The word was pluralized so much that eventually people dropped the “y” when speaking of it in the singular, making “cookie” the bastardization of “cooky”.