Chocolate Swirl Cookies

Any of you who are frequent readers of Cake Wrecks, might recall a frequent feature where she shows a picture of the cake requested, and then a picture of what was ultimately delivered, often with disastrous results. (Good example here). I felt a little bit like that with this recipe for Chocolate Swirl Cookies.
The cookies came out tasting better than I expected, but they just didn't have the look I was going for. Instead they looked amateurish and messy. See, on the food network site where this recipe originated, the cookies looked like this:
Perfect lines, perfect circles, equal doughs - just right. Mine, however, were a little sloppier looking.

This cookie is made by creating the two different doughs - vanilla and chocolate - and then rolling each out into a rectangle. After chilling them both, you lay one on top of the other, like so:
Then you roll the dough up into a tight cylinder creating the spiral look inside. This is returned to the fridge for a few hours, or until you're ready to slice and bake.
Since I didn't have a great knife to cut this, I put it in the freezer for about half an hour before slicing.
The cookies actually came out pretty nicely - in 1/4 inch slices. Half way through the slicing I stuck it back in for a few minutes since it has softened up a little while out of the fridge. Some of them got a little squished while I sliced, but they were easy to morph back into a circular shape.
At this stage, I knew the cookies didn't look quite like the picture, since the spiral was crooked and uneven in places, and even broken in a few spots. Somehow though I imagined that during the baking process that would even out and "melt" into a perfect spiral.
Didn't happen. Oh well, they were all eaten - and were a great tasting cookie - not too sweet like a sugar cookie, so you could really taste the chocolate and the vanilla - not just sugar.

Tip of the Day: When making a chocolate and vanilla dough/batter, like these or these, always make the vanilla first so you dont' have to clean out the bowl before starting on the next dough.

Recipe: (via Food Network)

Vanilla Dough:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp confectioners' sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups flour

Chocolate Dough:
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups flour

For the vanilla dough: Beat the butter until smooth. Add the two sugars and salt. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Gradually add the flour, mixing slowly until blended.

Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide in half. Place between 2 pieces of parchment or waxed paper. Roll into a 10 by 12 by 1/4 inch rectangle. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.

For the chocolate dough: Beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar, cocoa and salt and mix well. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Gradually add the flour, mixing slowly until blended.

Turn the dough out of the bowl and divide in half. Place between 2 pieces of parchment or waxed paper. Roll into a 10 by 12 by 1/4 inch rectangle. Refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.

Take out one of the chocolate doughs and brush the top lightly with cold water. Place the vanilla dough carefully on top and lightly press to smooth and seal the doughs together. Trim the edges if needed. Brush the surface of the dough lightly with cold water. With the long edge facing you, roll into a tight cylinder. Position the sandwiched doughs with the long edge facing you. Using the edge of the paper as a guide, roll the doughs into a tight cylinder.

Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Repeat with remaining 2 sheets of dough.

Slice the dough into 1/4-inch thick cookies. Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets at 325 F until just golden - about 14 to 16 minutes.