This is the dough recipe I make most often. 



2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 stick butter

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream the butter and sugar well. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix well.

Combine flour with baking powder and salt. Stir in to the butter and sugar mixture carefully, or you will get flour everywhere. Stir till butter mixture is. just combined. 

Press dough into a chubby log about 3 inches high. Wrap in parchment ot wax paper and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Meanwhile, make a chocolate ganache:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/4  tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, cold

2 TB flour

Melt chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over simmering water, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add sugar and vanilla extract and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Then add flour all at once, and stir till mixture becomes glossy and pulls away from the sides of the pan.  Cool in refrigerator.

To make cookies, on wax paper or a floured surface, slice chubby roll of dough 1/8″ thick, roll between two sheets of wax paper to even out, and cut with cookie cutter to even 3″ circle.  If you are lucky, you dont have to do the additional roll and cut but even with it, This is still faster than the usual  method of rolling and cutting.





For chocolate stripes and marbling, work some ganache into some dough. Its messy and sticky but fast.



Then cut your log into thick vertical slices and work your sticky chocolate dough between the slices, and reassemble the log and chill that awhile.



You don’t need much chocolate dough to make stripes. See?

Fill cookies by using two DEMITASSE  spoon to put ganache on dough circles. Fold corners under each other or pinch well. Place filled cookies 2″ apart on parchment papet lined pans and bake 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cool briefly on parchment then transfer to racks to cool completely.