I have mentioned this time and time again, but the Germans go crazy for their Christmas biscuits! Today I am sharing with you a recipe for another classic: Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck. Those of you with a bit of knowledge of the German lingo might already roughly know what it translates to: black-and-white-biscuits.
How these biscuits get their name is pretty obvious, half of the biscuit dough is coloured white (i.e. left plain) and the other half is chocolate flavoured and therefore brown (not quite black, I know… But that´s the name okay? Braun-Weiß Gebäck just doesn´t have the same ring to it!). You can find Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck in different patterns, and today I will be telling you how you can make pinwheels or a checkerboard design!
Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck Two Ways
As I said (and you can tell from the pictures), I´ll be showing you in this post how to make Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck two ways! The first being pinwheels, which are a lot easier to make, and the second, more complex version, being checkerboards! You can choose to make either one version or the other, or if you are feeling particularly adventurous, you could even try making both at once!
Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck Pinwheels
The pinwheel variation of Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck is fairly easy to make. All you have to do is roll out both the vanilla and chocolate flavoured doughs into two large rectangles, about 0.5cm thick. Brush the top of the chocolate dough with some egg white, then place the vanilla dough on top of it. Make sure the pieces of dough don´t cover one another exactly, but there is a roughly 1.5 cm overhang of vanilla-flavoured dough on the side further away from you. This will leave a 1.5cm “border” of chocolate dough at the edge closest to you, which is the end you will start rolling from. Before rolling, make sure to brush a little more egg white over the vanilla dough to help it stick. Fold the border over the overlying piece of dough to start you off, then roll the dough up into a tight spiral. Wrap in clingfilm and freeze for about 30-60 minutes until firm enough to slice easily.
Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck Checkerboards
The checkerboard pattern is a little tricker to make than the pinwheels, but it certainly leaves an impression! The vanilla and chocolate doughs are rolled out into a long rectangle until about 1.5cm thick and then cut into 1.5cm wide strips. You will need to cut 5 dark strips and 4 light strips. The strips are then stuck together in a checkerboard pattern using a little egg white. Start by making the bottom row by sticking one strip of vanilla dough in between two strips of chocolate dough. Do the opposite for the second row, and repeat the first step for the top row to create a checkerboard effect. Finally, you can also thinly roll out some of the remaining vanilla dough and use this to encase the checkerboard log. This is an optional step, but helps keep the 9 strips together and will give you nice straight, clean edges!
More German Christmas Biscuit Recipes
For more German Christmas biscuit recipes, check out some of my other favourites below:
- Vanilla Crescents | “Vanillekipferl”
- Traditional Scottish Shortbread Recipe
- Gingerbread Men
- Hazelnut Shortbread with Dark Chocolate “Haselnussbrot”
- Chocolate Orange Crescents | Schoko Orangen Kipferl
- Coconut Macarons | Kokosmakronen
- Spritzgebäck | German Piped Christmas Biscuits
- German “Baumkuchenspitzen” with Rum
- Salted Peanut and Apricot Florentines
- Christmas Light Cookies
- Coconut Star Christmas Biscuits
- German Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck | Checkerboard and Pinwheel Biscuits
- German Lebkuchen (Elisenlebkuchen) | Traditional German Gingerbread
Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck | Black-and-White Pinwheel and Checkerboard Biscuits
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 125g caster sugar
- 250g butter, cut into chunks
- 375g plain flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste
- 20g cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp boiling water
- 1 egg white, for sticking biscuits together
Method:
- Start by weighing your sugar, butter and flour into a mixing bowl. Use your hands to work the mixture, squeezing the butter between your hands and incorporating it into the sugar and flour.
- Once the mixture starts coming together, add in some cold water, a teaspoon at a time, until the dough comes together. Briefly knead on your work surface for a minute or two until smooth.
- Divide the dough into two equal portions. Add the vanilla to one and knead into the dough until incorporated. Mix the cocoa powder with 2 tbsp of boiling water to create a thick paste. Add this to the other portion of dough and knead until fully incorporated. Wrap both portions of dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours (you can also leave it overnight).
- Remove the dough from the fridge. You can either use all of the dough to make either pinwheels or checkerboard biscuits or use half of both doughs to make the two different variations! Follow the instructions above to make the two patterns, using the egg white to stick the individual dough layers or strips together.
TOP TIP: Use a RULER and a PIZZA DOUGH CUTTER to cut your dough into strips/rectangles! - Wrap the pinwheel biscuit roll or checkerboard biscuit log in clingfilm and freeze for about an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two large baking trays with baking paper.
- Use a sharp knife to cut the biscuit log into slices about 0.8-1cm thick. Then place them on the prepared baking trays.
- Bake the Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the trays for a few minutes to firm up. Carefully transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool completely.
