Basketweave Cookies
Featuring a fun “woven” look, these Basketweave Cookies are a delicious combination of vanilla and chocolate shortbread cookies. Bake up a batch today!
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Growing up in Charleston, SC, I would often ride my bike down to the City Market. The Market is an open-air section in downtown Charleston that is about 3-4 blocks long. Vendors can rent “stalls” (i.e. tables) to sell all sorts of things. As a kid, there were 2 baseball card vendors in the Market, and I knew them well. In fact, my first “job” was working for one of these vendors while she took a lunch break.
In addition to the various vendors selling all sorts of things, there are also Gullah ladies selling the most amazing woven sweetgrass baskets. These baskets are woven from sweetgrass, rushes and palmetto palm leaves – all of which are plentiful in the South Carolina low-country. If you’ve ever been to Charleston, then you most certainly would recognize these baskets. They’re amazing. They’re more art than basket. Somehow I managed to never purchase one of these baskets for myself, but it’s on my list of things to buy next time I make it to Charleston.
Basketweave Cookies
Speaking of basketweaving, these cookies are pretty fun, right? They totally remind me of a basket with the offsetting vanilla and chocolate pieces. Fair warning – these Basketweave Cookies do take a bit of advance planning and then some strategic measuring and cutting…but the effort is well worth it! Folks are sure to do a double-take when they see a plate of these cookies come out of the kitchen!
You’ll notice that the dough gets refrigerated/frozen a number of times throughout this recipe. The point of this is two-fold. First, the dough needs to be cold before baking. If the dough is too warm, the cookies will expand too much and lose their ‘basketweave’ look. They’ll still be delicious to eat, but the visual appeal will be gone. Second, you’ll be slicing this dough into thin pieces as you construct (i.e. weave) these cookies. Very cold dough is much easier to slice than warm dough.
One advantage to all of the refrigerating/freezing? You can work on this recipe in rounds. You could even make the dough and store it in the freezer until you’re ready to bake off a batch. Heck, you could even store the log of cookie dough in the freezer and bake off a couple cookies at a time. Then again, what’s the fun in that!?
These cookies are a twist on a classic shortbread cookie. You’ll notice that there is no baking powder or baking soda in this recipe – that’s because you don’t want these cookies expanding in the oven. You want them to hold their shape. The way to achieve that? Use a shortbread cookie recipe. I personally love a good shortbread cookie, so these cookies were a real treat for me. Plus, they’re kinda fun to make!
I hope you have fun making (and eating) these Basketweave Cookies! I employed Robbie’s assistance to make these cookies, and he loved helping. (And, yes, he loved eating his work, too!)
Did you make a batch of these Basketweave Cookies at home? Leave a comment, or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). I’d love to see your version!
Basketweave Cookies
Ingredients
For the Vanilla Dough
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch
- 11 Tbsp unsalted butter room temperature and cut into small cubes
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Dough
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 3½ Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1½ Tbsp cornstarch
- 6 Tbsp unsalted butter room temperature and cut into small cubes
- ⅓ cup powdered sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Vanilla Dough
- Using a medium bowl, sift the flour and cornstarch together until well combined; set mixture aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth (~3-4 minutes on medium speed).
- Add egg yolks and vanilla; mix until well combined.
- Add flour mixture to the mixer bowl in 2 additions, mixing until just combined after each addition.
- Divide dough into two equal portions. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
For the Chocolate Dough
- Using a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder and corn starch together until well combined; set mixture aside.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth (~3-4 minutes on medium speed).
- Add egg yolks and vanilla; mix until well combined.
- Add flour mixture to the mixer bowl in 2 additions, mixing until just combined after each addition.
- Divide dough into two equal portions. Wrap each portion in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
For the Cookies
- Line 2 baking pans with parchment papers; set pans aside.
- Working on a lightly-floured surface, roll/press one piece of vanilla dough into a 4” square; set aside.
- Roll one piece of chocolate dough into a 4” square.
- Brush top of the vanilla square lightly with water. Lay chocolate square on top and press together lightly. Continue process with the remaining piece of vanilla dough and chocolate dough. Wrap layered dough in plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes.
- If necessary, trim edges of the dough to keep the square 4”x4”.
- Slice the square into (16) ¼” pieces. Lay one piece on its side and brush top with water. Lay another piece on top, rotating the second piece 180° to create a basketweave pattern. Continue process, brushing water in between each layer, until all pieces of dough have been used. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Trim off end of log of dough. Slice log into ¼” slices, placing each slice on the prepared baking pans.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until cookies begin to turn light golden brown on the edges.
- Remove pans from oven and let cookies cool completely before removing.
Looking for more fun cookie recipes? Check out these other favorites, too:
Chocolate Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies
The basket weave cookies are looking amazing! Thanks for sharing this recipe and shall give it a shot soon!
Thanks so much for the kind words, Sonia! These are fun cookies to make. They do take a bit more effort, but you can do it in rounds, so it doesn’t feel like too much work. Either way, have fun with it!! 🙂
I definitely did a double-take when I saw these cookies pop up in my inbox! These are adorable and, as I hit the “read more” button and waited for your recipe to load, I couldn’t help speculating that these involved some sort of intricate cookie dough weaving – but I’m so glad that’s not the case! In fact, your method of stacking these and cutting and stacking again to resemble a weave is so dang clever! Speaking of weaving – gosh, I remember our trip to City Market in Charleston the last time we were up there. We mosied through each of those stalls and I remember some of the vendors with some pretty baskets as well as art and gadgets and gizmos galore! Ok now am off to warm up my drone to send it your way to retrieve some of these cookies from your kitchen! 🙂
Haha – no actual weaving involved here, Shashi. Although I did do my fair share of weaving as a kid – I loved that section of my middle school art class. In fact, I still have a small loom stashed in storage. One day I might get it back out! One day. Either way, I had fun making these cookies…even if they aren’t “woven.”
And, yes to Charleston! In fact, we’ve got a vacation booked for there this summer. Fingers crossed we get to actually go! 🙂
I hope y’all get to go too! We have a small trip to Edisto planned for next weekend – fingers crossed!
These basket weave cookies are so adorable! I’ve always wanted to try making them, so I think you’ve convinced me! Great tip on chilling the dough multiple times too.
These cookies are a lot of fun, Michelle! I do hope you try your hand at them – perhaps with a matcha twist? I will say that keeping the blocks even is nearly impossible. I wanted these cookies to look like a perfect checkerboard, but they would up a bit more rustic. Oh well, it was still a fun project…and we loved eating them, too! 🙂
oh crikey david these look so pretty but i know i just don’t have the patience for such things. i am not nimble-fingered:) i bet they are delicious too. clever fellow you are.
Ah, thank you so much, Sherry! To be honest, I wanted these cookies to look even more ‘perfect.’ (Think checkboard.) However, as I realized, it’s almost impossible to keep the blocks of dough the exact same size. Either way, this was a fun baking project. Sometimes you need a creative outlet…and for me, that usually means the kitchen!
How fun these cookies are! They do look like a basket weave. I’ve been to Charleston before and enjoyed the every southern charm. Your childhood memories of basket ladies are so cute. These cookies will be lovely for a holiday special treat.
Ah, I love Charleston! I had no idea how unique it was to grow up there. We have a trip planned to visit this summer, and I’m hoping we get to go! Also, you’re right about these cookies being a fun holiday treat. Thanks, Holly!
These are so fun! Once I saw your step by step photos, I realized they aren’t all that hard to make, but they sure look impossible when you see the finished product! These will be fun to make.
I agree, Kathy! This is one of those recipes that makes you stop and think “now how in the world do you make that!?” Fortunately, it’s not all that difficult – even if there are a lot of steps. To be fair, I wanted the checkerboard pattern to look more ‘perfect’ but it’s almost impossible to slice the dough into exact thicknesses. Oh well, the rustic look was still fun, too! 🙂
I bet Robbie loved helping to make these delicious looking basketweave cookies David! I would too! If I’m ever over in your neck of the woods I would gladly volunteer to be one of your helpers too! Yum!
Oh, Robbie loved (!) helping with these cookies. He’s really taken an interest in helping me cook this past year. Of course, that might be out of sheer boredom, but either way I enjoy having a helper with me in the kitchen! And if you are ever in our neck of the woods? I’d put you to work, too…with a glass of scotch (err, whisky) to help! 🙂
Nice one, looks like some patience is needed in here, looks like it paid off anyways.
There were indeed several steps to making these cookies, but each step was pretty simple. I had fun making (and eating) these! Thanks, Raymund!
What a creative cookie! They’re so cool looking.
I love going to markets like that, especially when traveling! It just gives you a feel for a place. Side note, I’m heading on a road trip down to South Carolina this weekend! I wanted to go to Charleston but decided on Myrtle Beach since it’s a few hours closer. Wish me luck with my toddler 😉
Thanks so much, Nicole! I had fun with these cookies – I did want them to be more ‘perfect’ squares, but I realized it’s darn near impossible to slice the cookie dough exactly evenly. Oh well…they were still tasty!
And South Carolina!!! I hope you guys have an awesome trip. We’re heading down in June, and I’m counting the days. Myrtle is a lot of fun. Very different than Charleston, but still the beach…and probably still decently warm this time of the year. Have fun!! I want a full report!