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!
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
The process of making these two short pastries is based off a recipe for Checkerboard Cookies found in my favourite French Pastry Book "French Patisserie: Master Recipes and Techniques from the Ferrandi School of Culinary Art ".
On a side note, if you are super into French Pastry like I am, this book is a real bible and I highly recommend getting it!
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:
- Almond Tahini Cookies
- Triple Chocolate Tahini Cookies
- 3 Ingredients Almond Cookies
- Coconut Macaroons
- Nut-Free Florentine Cookies
- Almond Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
- No Bake Peanut Butter Cookies
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Vanilla and Chocolate Marble Cookies
Ingredients
Chocolate Short Pastry
- 1/4 cup (60gr) Butter, cold
- 3 1/2 tbsp (25gr) Confectionner's Sugar - or Icing Sugar
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 cup (20gr) Almond Meal
- 2/3 cup (85gr) Plain Flour
- 1 1/2 tbsp (10gr) Unsweetened Cacao Powder
Vanilla Short Pastry
- 1/4 cup (60gr) Butter, cold
- 3 1/2 tbsp (25gr) Confectionner's Sugar - or Icing Sugar
- 1/2 teasp. Vanilla Extract
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 cup (20gr) Almond Meal
- 3/4 cup (100gr) Plain Flour
Instructions
Chocolate Short Pastry
- Dice the cold butter. In a large bowl, rub the Butter and Confectionner's Sugar together until you get a fine crumb consistency.
- Lightly beat the Egg with the Salt, then add it to the Butter/Sugar and mix it in.Sift in the Almond Meal, Plain Flour and Unsweetened Cacao Powder. Assemble the pastry into a ball, cover with wrap and gently press on it to flatten the ball. Place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Vanilla Short Pastry
- Dice the cold butter. In a large bowl, rub the Butter and Confectionner's Sugar together until you get a fine crumb consistency.
- Lightly beat the Egg with the Salt and Vanilla Extract, then add it to the Butter/Sugar and mix it in.Sift in the Almond Meal and Plain Flour. Assemble the pastry into a ball, cover with wrap and gently press on it to flatten the ball. Place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
How to assemble the Marble Cookies
- Preheat your oven on 180'C.Line a large baking tray with baking paper or a baking mat and set aside.
- On a lightly floured surface, thinly roll the two short pastries. Roughly break the two pastries into small pieces, then re-form one large ball of dough with the pieces of chocolate pastry and vanilla pastry. Add some more flour onto the working surface if needed, then thinly roll the unified pastry a second time.
- Using a Cookie Cutter, cut small rounds out of the cookie pastry and transfer them on your baking tray (you may need to use a flat spatula to transfer them).
- Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the cookies. When baked, place the cookies on a cooling rack and let them cool down completely.
