Schwarz-Weiß-Gebäck

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rolling pin
• •Sharp thin knife
• •Ruler (for checkerboard cutting)
• •Two baking sheets
• •Parchment paper
• •Cling film
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the vanilla dough

   Sift the 300g flour and icing sugar together onto a clean work surface or into a large bowl. Add the cold cubed butter, egg yolk, Vanillezucker, and a pinch of salt. Work everything together quickly with your fingertips, pressing and cutting the butter into the flour until the mixture forms coarse crumbs, then press it into a smooth dough. Use real Vanillezucker here, not extract. Austrian baking depends on it for that rounded, fragrant sweetness. If the dough feels dry and won't come together, add a teaspoon of milk. Don't overwork it. Mürbteig means 'tender dough,' and the moment you start kneading it like bread, you've lost the tenderness. Flatten into a disc, wrap in cling film, and refrigerate.

   Keep the butter cold. The short, snappy texture of Mürbteig comes from cold butter that melts in the oven, not on your warm hands. If the kitchen is hot, put the flour and butter in the freezer for ten minutes before you start.
2. 2

   Make the cocoa dough

   Sift the 260g flour, cocoa powder, and icing sugar together. The flour is reduced here because the cocoa replaces some of it. Use Dutch-process cocoa, not natural. Dutch-process gives you a deeper colour and a rounder, less acidic flavour, which matters when the cookie is this simple. Add the cold cubed butter, egg yolk, and salt. Work together the same way, quickly and lightly, until you have a smooth dark dough. Cocoa absorbs more moisture than flour, so this dough often needs a teaspoon or two of milk to come together. Add it only if the dough cracks when you press it. Flatten, wrap, and refrigerate alongside the vanilla dough. Both need at least one hour in the fridge.

3. 3

   Shape the spirals

   Take both doughs from the fridge. They should be firm but pliable. If they're rock hard, give them five minutes on the counter. Roll each dough between two sheets of cling film into a rectangle roughly 20 by 25 centimeters and about four millimeters thick. Peel off the top layer of cling film from both. Brush the surface of the vanilla rectangle lightly with beaten egg white. This is your glue. It keeps the layers bonded so the spiral doesn't unravel when you slice. Lay the cocoa rectangle directly on top, pressing gently to seal. Starting from the long edge, roll the layered doughs into a tight log. Roll slowly and evenly. If you rush this, the spiral will be loose in the center and tight at the edges, and your slices will look uneven. Wrap the log tightly in cling film, twisting the ends like a sweet wrapper, and refrigerate for at least one hour until completely firm.

   You can reverse the colours. Start with cocoa on the bottom, vanilla on top. I usually make one log each way so the tin has both.
4. 4

   Shape the checkerboard

   For the checkerboard, roll each dough into a rectangle the same size as before, about four millimeters thick. Cut each rectangle lengthwise into strips about one centimeter wide. Now build the log: lay down a row alternating vanilla, cocoa, vanilla, cocoa. Brush the tops lightly with egg white. Stack a second row on top, reversing the pattern: cocoa, vanilla, cocoa, vanilla. Repeat for a third or fourth row depending on how large a log you want. Press the assembled block gently together so the strips bond without squashing them out of shape. Wrap tightly in cling film, pressing it into a neat square log, and refrigerate for at least one hour. Precision here is what makes the checkerboard sharp. Take your time with the cutting and stacking.

   A ruler and a sharp knife help enormously. If the strips aren't even, the pattern won't be clean. Gretel always measured. I thought she was being fussy until I tried it without measuring and the checkerboard looked like a chess game played by someone who'd had too much Grüner Veltliner.
5. 5

   Slice the cookies

   Preheat youroven to 170°C (340°F), conventional heat, not fan. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap the chilled logs and slice into rounds or squares about four to five millimeters thick. Use a sharp, thin knife and a clean, decisive stroke. Don't saw back and forth or the pattern will smear. If the dough starts softening as you work, put it back in the fridge for ten minutes. Lay the slices on the baking sheets with about two centimeters between them. They spread very little, but they need air around them to bake evenly.

6. 6

   Bake the cookies

   Bake for ten to twelve minutes. Watch them closely after eight. You want the vanilla portions to be just barely golden at the edges, still pale on top. The cocoa portions won't change colour much, so you're reading the vanilla dough for doneness. If the vanilla parts are browning, you've gone too long. Pull them a minute early rather than a minute late. These cookies crisp as they cool, and overbaked Mürbteig tastes like cardboard. Let them sit on the baking sheet for two minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. They'll snap when you break one in half. That's how you know.

Chef Tips

• •Use real Vanillezucker, not vanilla extract or vanilla-flavoured sugar. You can make your own by burying two split vanilla pods in a jar of icing sugar for a week. The flavour permeates every grain and it's what gives Austrian Christmas baking that unmistakable warmth. Gretel always had a jar on the counter with the pod still in it, replenished all year.
• •Chill the dough longer than you think you need to. Two hours is better than one. The colder the log, the cleaner the slice, and the cleaner the slice, the sharper the pattern. If you're making checkerboards, I'd say the fridge overnight is ideal. The dough firms up completely and holds its shape like a ruler.
• •Store finished cookies in a tin lined with parchment, with sheets of parchment between each layer. In a cool place they keep for three to four weeks, which is why Austrian families bake these in late November. They're meant to be waiting in the tin long before Christmas Eve.
• •Don't use fan-forced heat if you can avoid it. Mürbteig dries out quickly, and the circulating air pushes the colour too fast on the outside while the center is still soft. Conventional heat, middle rack, and patience.

Advance Preparation

• •Both doughs can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated, well wrapped. Let them soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.
• •Shaped and wrapped logs can be frozen for up to two months. Slice directly from frozen, adding one to two minutes to the baking time. This is how Austrian families stock up for Advent: a freezer full of logs, ready to slice and bake whenever the tin runs low.
• •Baked cookies keep in an airtight tin for three to four weeks at cool room temperature. They actually improve after a day or two as the butter flavour rounds out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 14g)