Swedish Chocolate-Vanilla Checkerboard Cookies (Schackrutor) | Recipe Drop | Food52

Check out Food52's new series Recipe Drop, where one of our Test Kitchen experts walks us through a brand-new recipe they developed just for Food52. Tune in for exclusive original recipes, from buttery pastries to showstopping roasts.
Swedish Checkerboard Cookies (Schackrutor):
“Schackrutor”, or chocolate-vanilla checkerboard cookies, are one of the most classic Swedish cookies you could make. When I think of them, I imagine them on a plate with white paper lace next to vintage tea cups and a big pot of coffee, surrounded by 5 women all named Birgitta (if you know, you know).
They’re essentially vanilla and chocolate slice-and-bake shortbread cookies, and are as delicious as they are easy. They are also similar to American checkerboard cookies, but have fewer ingredients and only four “squares,” rather than nine. Below I have for you a classic version as well as my mom’s “healthier” version which is made with oat flour and brown sugar (you can watch us make her version in our upcoming Mother’s Day segment!).
Tips & Tricks
•Oat flour soaks up more liquid, which is why I substitute in the second version with less oat flour than all-purpose.
•If you make the oat flour version, know they will taste more like biscuits than a classic shortbread (still delicious!)
•Melted butter often enhances gluten development and results in less-crumbly shortbread cookies, but since there’s not really gluten in oats, melted butter is preferred here. Since oat flour is already crumbly, we want to help prevent some of it with melted butter.
•These last in an airtight container for up to about a week
-Nea Arentzen
GET THE RECIPE:
Swedish Checkerboard Cookies (Schackrutor): food52.com/recipes/90146-swed...
PRODUCTS FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO:
AO Glass Handmade Cake Stand: food52.com/shop/products/1315...
MORE FROM FOOD52:
Subscribe here to our KZbin Channel! f52.co/2HN7Dp8
GET MORE OF FOOD52 BY CONNECTING BELOW:
Website: food52.com
Our Shop: food52.com/shop
Facebook: / food52
Instagram: / food52
Pinterest: / food52
Twitter: / food52
TikTok: / food52
Food52 newsletter: f52.co/newsletter

[@anukritipandey6206]

Absolutely loved the relaxed homey atmosphere of the video! Definitely going to try this recipe :)

[@neaarentzen]

Let me know if you do!

[@CBEEBLE]

Loved this recipe and I would imagine it is quite adaptable to other ingredients. Baking with Mum is always the best.

[@neaarentzen]

Yes very adaptable, and yes, always the best!

[@terichewbaccazulu5908]

A lovely video. I appreciate Nea and Tove doing this video (and cameo by dad!)

[@neaarentzen]

Appreciate you

[@BenthicFern]

Great video! More kitchen time with family please!

[@neaarentzen]

🥰

[@TreforTreforgan]

This one came at the right time for me. Charged with creating a Swedish dessert for a Swedish themed dinner as a part of a Eurovision watch extravaganza. I followed this recipe almost exactly, including the oat flour as wheat, to say the very least, turns me into a very farty article. The only difference was I used vanilla essence and coconut sugar and the results were really quite good. In fact, I don’t often blow my own culinary trumpet but trumdiddlyumdumdumdumdum etc. I think the oat flower gives the schackrutor a wholesome edge, making them a real comfort food. And boy was that a good thing, because after watching Ireland’s entry we were in real need of comforting!!!

[@neaarentzen]

I'm so happy to hear that, thank you for sharing! Eurovision was quite the show this year... always need a good treat to go with it!

[@TreforTreforgan]

@@neaarentzen oh, please thank your mam for the Nutribullet oat flour tip! Works a treat. She’s such a cute Swedish mam, my missus and me think. She’s everything a Swedish mam should look like, tell her.

[@tovewear]

@@TreforTreforgan Hello and thank you for the kind words, I am so glad you tried the oat flower recipe and liked it!

[@TreforTreforgan]

@@tovewear maybe some more Swedish treats for people with sensitive tummies could be a thing?🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪

[@kalcidis]

We keep these in the freezer and I eat them directly from there. Not because they are better frozen, but because I have no discipline. Never done them with oat meal though, which I can imagine is very nice too.

[@neaarentzen]

I mean... I do love a frozen cookie. I'll have to give it a try!

[@tetepeb]

As a Swede i approve this, Schackrutor is one of the most classic Swedish cookies that my and other grandmams always used to make

[@neaarentzen]

Jajamensan

[@tovewear]

Absolut Småländsk dialekt:)🙂

[@KarenParis-tu3hx]

This was a great video! I really enjoyed you two working together and the fun banter! Reminds me of my family! I’m guessing that Tove used a food mill attachment or stand alone for the oat flour? I’ve made these the regular way, but will be fun to try with a different flour.

[@whatshername369]

Amazon has a ton of Vanilla sugar. I visited Brlgium in my teens and brought some back. It is lovely.

[@neaarentzen]

It's so delicious!

[@Inspiredbakes]

I love recipes by weight, specially in metric!!!

[@neaarentzen]

Yes!!

[@TreforTreforgan]

Couldn’t see the recipe in the description😕

[@CathyDoherty-hr4mx]

You can make your own vanilla sugar add a vanilla bean into regular sugar.

[@neaarentzen]

I'll have to give that a try!

[@starsINSPACE]

The mix up about the 50th birthday cookie being 25 years old 😂

[@neaarentzen]

Too funny

[@tovewear]

The mix up was real...😂