Zebra or Striped Cookies

This month the Avid Baker's Challenge was to make Zebra Cookies from Baking for All Occassions by Flo Braker. I must admit the name of these cookies got my attention immediately, it sounded like fun and it was definitely something I had never tried. Then I discovered there was no photo in the book to check myself. This meant I was at the mercy of my interpretation (Read carefully, I told myself. Don't be in a rush). Well, it was fun, a bit time consuming but not difficult at all and well worth it.

The recipe given started with a vanilla and a chocolate butter cookie. The ingredient list was short but, included cake flour. Now I knew this was to be a tender cookie (I like that). The time consuming part was in the assembly. Flo was suggesting the use of a 6x2 inch square pan for assembly. I do not have a pan this size so I just layered on a cutting board.

Each of the two rounds of dough was to be seperated evenly (I weighed mine) into thirds. Then placing one piece at a time between parchment it is rolled into a 6x3 inch rectangle and placed in the prepared pan. Each of the six pieces are rolled out in this fashion and layered, alternating flavors in the prepared pan. You should have 6 layers. I decided to cut the rectangle in half and layer the two halves together for a total of 12 layers. Cover and refrigerate the dough until firm (4hrs or overnight).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment.

The dough is then removed from the refrigerator and thinly sliced. Each slice is then cut on the diagonal, forming 2 triangles. place them on the baking sheet about 1/2" apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, just until they are no longer shiny on top and are pale gold on the bottom.

I found these cookies to be delicious and love the tenderness that the comes from using cake flour. They certainly get attention when placed on the table for tasting. I totally enjoyed making them and all my tester enjoyed eating them. Thanks Hanaa for the challenge!