When you can't choose between Vanilla or Chocolate, just go half and half with these Chocolate Vanilla Marble Cookies! The delicious shortbread cookies are a mix of Vanilla and Cacao Shortbread dough and make the perfect sweet snack to enjoy for the Holidays and Christmas Season!
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Note: This recipe was edited in January 2021.
Why we love this recipe
Is it just me, or sometimes, you just REALLY crave for simple, delicious cookies? I am all about elaborate, intricate desserts but let's be honest... often, ain't no body got time for that! So my go-to sweet treats are, like most people, cookies!
This recipe started as something completely different... but like often in baking, things don't turn out the way you wanted. But also like often, a baking fail can easily be turned into a baking miracle!
Although these Vanilla Chocolate Marble Biscuits weren't supposed to be the way the ended up being, I think they got even better than the initial idea. I love a good Marble Effect, whether it is inside a Marble Loaf Cake or with Cookies like here.
Just like my other Shortbread Cookies recipes like my Lemon Poppy Seed Shortbreads, French Sablés Cookies or these Almond Shortbread Cookies, these biscuits are deliciously rich, buttery and crumbly.
Vanilla and Chocolate Cookies
When you say 'Marble Cookies', you usually think of beautiful sugar cookies glazed with marble-look royal icing like these super cute Heart Cookies from Sugar Spun Run.
They are truely beautiful cookies, but to be honest... I know absolutely nothing about royal icing and sugar cookies decoration! So for this recipe, the marble-look is simply created with two cookie short pastries combined into one.
Ok, let's dive into the recipe!
Making these Marbled Cookies is really quick and easy. You simply need to make two different cookie short pastries, then combine them into one:
- a Chocolate Short Pastry
- a Vanilla Short Pastry
Marble Biscuits Ingredients
The recipe for the two short pastries are basically the same, but one uses the Vanilla Extract while the other uses the Cacao Powder.
The quantities are also the same for both pastries, but note that I have slightly reduced the quantity of Plain Flour in the chocolate one because the Cacao Powder can make the dough dry.
To make these Half Vanilla Half Chocolate Cookies, you will need (scroll down to recipe card for all quantities)
- Butter
- Confectionner's Sugar (or powdered white sugar)
- Salt
- Eggs
- Almond Meal
- Plain Flour
- Unsweetened Cacao Powder
- Vanilla Extract
How to create a Marble Effect with cookie dough
The trickiest part of the recipe will be to combine both pastries into one to create the Marble-Effect. Though when I say tricky... it is actually quite easy!
Simply roll your two pastries separately, then roughly break them into pieces. Yes, it is a fun process! You really don't need to be precise here, the goal is just to then alternate some of the chocolate pastry with some of the vanilla one.
With the white and brown pastry pieces, re-make a single ball of pastry. There are no right or wrong techniques to do so.
Just place the coloured pieces next to each other and/or on top of each other then rassemble them tightly into a ball. You will then re-roll that combined pastry ball and see the fun marble-effect!
If you find that the chocolate or vanilla pieces are too large or disproportionate, just remove some of the other coloured pastry from one of the edge. Then place it in the middle of the disproportionate piece and gently press on it with your rolling pin to 'glue' them together.
Then, using a fun Fluted Cookie Cutter, simply cut out your Vanilla and Chocolate Shortbread Cookies and bake them!
More Cookies Recipe:
- 3 Ingredients Almond Cookies
- Coconut Macaroons
- Nut-Free Florentine Cookies
- Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
- No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
- Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies
- Lemon Curd Cookies
Made this recipe?
Let us know if you liked it by leaving a comment below, and tag us on Instagram @a.baking.journey with a photo of your creation!
Recipe
Vanilla and Chocolate Marble Cookies
Ingredients
Chocolate Short Pastry
- 2/3 cup (100gr) Plain Flour
- 1/4 cup (20gr) Almond Meal
- 1 1/2 tbsp (10gr) Unsweetened Cacao Powder
- 1/3 cup (35gr) Confectionner's Sugar - or Icing Sugar
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1/4 cup (60gr) Butter, cold
- 1 Egg
Vanilla Short Pastry
- 2/3 cup (100gr) Plain Flour
- 1/4 cup (20gr) Almond Meal
- 1/3 cup (35gr) Confectionner's Sugar - or Icing Sugar
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1/4 cup (60gr) Butter, cold
- 1/2 teasp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 Egg
Disclaimer
I highly recommend using the measurements in grams & ml (instead of cups & spoons) for more accuracy and better results.
Instructions
Chocolate Short Pastry
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the Flour, Almond Meal, Cacao Powder, Confectioner's Sugar and Salt. Add the cold Butter cut into small cubes and rub it with the dry ingredients between your fingers until you get a fine crumb consistency (see note 1).
- Add the lightly beaten Egg and mix it in until you get a soft dough. Gently press on the dough to flatten it, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Vanilla Short Pastry
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the Flour, Almond Meal, Confectioner's Sugar and Salt. Add the cold Butter cut into small cubes and rub it with the dry ingredients between your fingers until you get a fine crumb consistency (see note 1).
- Add the lightly beaten Egg and Vanilla Extract, and mix it in until you get a soft dough. Gently press on the dough to flatten it, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
How to assemble the Marble Cookies
- Preheat your oven on 180'C and line a flat baking tray with baking paper or a baking mat.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the two doughs separately using a rolling pin (see note 2). Roughly break the doughs into small pieces, and randomly assemble the pieces to create a single dough mixing both the chocolate and vanilla pieces.
- Gently roll the dough again (see note 3). to create the mixed marble pattern, adding a little bit more flour if needed.
- Use a Rounded or Flutted Cookie Cutter to cut out the cookies, then transfer them over the lined baking tray (see note 4).
- Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cookies. Leave on the tray for 10 to 15 minutes when taken out of the oven to firm up, then transfer onto a cooling rack to cool down completely.
Notes
- You can also use a Pastry Blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients, or even the food processor.
- The cookie dough will get rolled again so the thickness does not matter too much at this point, but it will be easier to assemble if not rolled too thinly.
- At this point, the thickness of the cookie dough will be the thickness of your cookies. I would recommend rolling it between 2 to 4 mm (1/16 to 1/8 inch).
- If the cookie dough seems to be soft at this point, place it back in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes to firm up again. You can use a small offset spatula to move the cookies on the tray more easily.
