Ivy says:
The lovely and very talented Meredith from Like Merchant Ships has graciously offered to do a guest post for our Sweets For The Season series. Here it is:
Orange Chocolate Checker Cookies
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp finely shredded orange zest
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted*
*Frugal substitution:Â 6 Tbsp. cocoa powder and 2 Tbsp. shortening, melted and combined
If you crave Terry’s Chocolate Oranges at Christmas, you’ll love this cheaper, slice-and-bake alternative. Crispy citrus meets fudgy chocolate, all in one bite.
To see the directions and picture, click the jump:
First, make the dough: Beat butter with sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add egg and vanilla. Add flour in intervals, scraping sides of bowl often.
Divide dough in 2. Stir orange zest in 1 half; stir melted chocolate in the other half. Wrap dough balls separately and chill until hardened.
Trust me–the eye-pleasing product is worth the extra dough chilling!
Shape each chilled dough ball into a 10-inch roll. Wrap and chill for another 2 hours.
Now for the fun part! Lightly flour a long knife. Cut each roll lengthwise into 2 halves. Turn each half flat-side down and divide into 2 more pieces.
You should have 4 firm quarters of chocolate dough and 4 quarters of orange dough. Put the rolls back together again, alternating chocolate and orange quarters. Squeeze slightly to seal the doughs.
You know the drill:Â re-wrap and chill 30 more minutes.
Cut each roll into 1/4-inch-thick slices. They spread while baking, so place them at least 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes or until slightly firm. Makes about 50!
Enjoy!
Many thanks to Meredith from Like Merchant Ships for the guest post! Please go visit her blog as thanks for the great guest post!
I am so going to make these.
I am making these today, about to take a walk in the beautiful snow (or, what passes as snow in the pacific NW) to get some ingredients. 🙂 I’ll let you know how it goes, thanks for posting this amazing looking recipe! Do you think these would travel well? If they turn out I want to mail some to my sister (on the opposite coast) with the biscotti I’m making for her today.
I sliced mine 1/4″ or a little less, and they were fairly delicate around the edges.
However, I suspect that if you cut yours a little bit thicker, they would be fine for mailing, especially if you packaged them in a small Pringles tube or cup.
These are fantastic! I saw the recipe yesterday and figured I would try them to add to my Christmas cookie assortment. Baked them off tonight after letting them chill for about 24 hours. These made the kitchen smell like heaven and they taste even better. A home run recipe-easy, tastes great and makes a lot from one batch.