I love zebra cookies or stripe cookies made with a chocolate cookie dough and a vanilla cookie dough. When stacked together they form stripes! Want pinwheels? You can do that, too! Besides looking fun, they also taste great!
Anything zebra was always popular in our house.
Given that Zoe's name begins with a "Z", you can bet that zebra was her most popular animal when it came to stuffed toys.
Her favorite Beanie Baby was a zebra and you can tell because it's so worn; it's almost lost its stripes!
When it came to clothing, zebra stripes were a hit and well, if I had made these cookies when she was a tyke, I'm guessing these would have been her favorite cookie.
Table of contents
Why I Love Zebra Cookies
Personally, zebra cookies remind me of pinwheel cookies, which I adored as a child.
I don't remember what brand it was that my Bubby always kept hidden away, but I do remember the pink, or possibly red, sugar on the outside.
I used to love those cookies and my favorite part was nibbling off the sugar on the outside while trying not to break the cookie into pieces.
Those days are long gone and while I no longer see pinwheels in the grocery, at least I can make my own.
This striped cookie recipe is adaptable to pinwheels or this zebra version.
Well Zoe Zebra, here are zebra cookies!
Cookie Questions
My zebra cookies are a shortbread cookie made with vanilla and chocolate cookie doughs, using cocoa powder. They can be made as pinwheels, too! Traditional shortbread though, does not contain egg.
Some also label crinkle cookies as zebra cookies, but to me they will always be crinkle cookies.
The zebra cake is a snack prepared by Little Debbie's. They consist of yellow cake, topped with white frosting, piped with chocolate stripes. These were never found in my childhood home and I must admit I'm not sure I've ever eaten anything made by Little Debbie's. However in Manservant's home they were quite popular!
Zebra Cookie Recipe Ingredients
The zebra cookie is pretty straight forward and easy to make.
All-purpose flour is used. Be sure to aerate your flour before measuring or weigh it if you have a scale.
I always stir or whisk my flour with a fork before measuring it into a cup. I then gently spoon it into a measuring cup and use a knife-or my finger- to level off the top.
To much flour makes cookies dry, dense and crumbly. (I've really been paying a lot of attention to this lately and think it has upped my baking tremendously!
Salt - Note that there are differences in Kosher salt. Kosher salt is made by two major brands and they measure differently. Know whether you are using Diamond or Morton's.
One teaspoon of Diamond kosher salt is equivalent to 2 teaspoons of table salt.
One teaspoon of Morton's kosher salt is equivalent to 1.5 teaspoons of table salt.
This recipe calls for Diamond so if you are using table salt you should use about half of what this recipe calls for.
Cocoa - Dutch process cocoa is treated with alkali which gives it a darker color-better to see your stripes!
However this recipe contains no baking powder, so if you want to use natural cocoa you can, but your stripes won't be as dark!
As for sanding sugar, I love a variety.
All other ingredients are pretty straight forward, so have fun making this easy recipe.
How To Make Zebra Striped Cookies Into Pinwheel Cookies
Zebra cookies requires stacking the two different flavored cookie doughs on top of each other 4 times to make 4 distinct layers.
Then press together and roll into a cylinder, wrap with plastic wrap and chill.
After chilling brush with egg and roll in sugar to make them festive and cute!
After that it's a matter of slicing and baking!
Want to make Pinwheels?
Stack one dough on top of the other-after rolling each into a rectangle-and then roll them up like a jelly roll.
Note you only need to stack one on top of the other!
Chill and bake per recipe's instuctions.
I love baking cookies-but maybe not as much as eating them.
This time of year though is about creating memories and each year I bake just for my neighbors.
Hopefully, they have created memories for them and I also hope they look forward to receiving them year after year.
Every year I make new favorites and that is the best part of trying new recipes.
This zebra cookie recipe was one I baked in 2018 when I spotted the recipe in Bon Appetit.
It took me awhile to share with you!
In any case, bake some cookies. Eat some sugar. Smile. And go grab a glass of milk!
I'd love to hear if you make this recipe!
Please share a review or rate the recipe,
and be sure to tag me on social!
Recipe
Zebra Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes*
- Cook Time: 13 Minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 48 1x
- Category: Cookies
- Cuisine: American
Description
I love zebra cookies or stripe cookies made with a chocolate cookie dough and a vanilla cookie dough. When stacked together they form stripes! Want pinwheels? You can do that, too! Besides looking fun, they also taste great!
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 1.5 tsp. kosher salt, divided (Diamond, not Morton's)
- ⅓ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 ¼ cups (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, beaten to blend
- ¼ cup sanding sugar (any color)
Instructions
Whisk 1⅓ cups flour and ¾ tsp. salt in a medium bowl. Whisk cocoa powder, remaining 1 cup flour, and remaining ¾ tsp. salt in another medium bowl. These are the bases for your chocolate and vanilla doughs.
Beat butter, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Divide mixture between the 2 bowls of dry ingredients (about 1 cup in each). Scrape vanilla mixture back into stand mixer bowl (save the mixing bowl) and beat on low speed just until combined. Return to reserved bowl. Repeat process with chocolate mixture.
Arrange 2 large sheets of parchment paper on a work surface. Dollop one-quarter of chocolate dough in the center of each sheet and pat into rough 6x2" rectangles. Dollop one-quarter of vanilla dough on top of each chocolate slab and pat into rectangles the same size and shape so that you have 2 layers each. Repeat entire process so you have 4 alternating layers. Tightly press stacked dough and roll into cylinders about 1½" wide and 8" long, using the parchment to help you. Wrap logs in plastic wrap and chill until very firm, at least 2 hours.
Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 350°. Working one at a time, unwrap dough and brush with egg. Carefully sprinkle surface with sanding sugar and roll logs in sugar to coat well (really press dough into sugar so it sticks). Slice into rounds a generous ¼" thick, rotating after every few cuts to keep slices round. Arrange cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2" apart. Bake, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until edges are just set, 12–14 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets.
Do Ahead: Dough can be made 3 days ahead; keep chilled. Cookies can be baked 5 days ahead; store airtight at room temperature.
Notes
*Does not include Chill Time
Thanks Bon Appetit.
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