Mixing Bowl: Schackrutor (Chess Squares) by Petra Borner

Petra Borner, today's Mixing Bowl contributor, is a fantastic Swedish artist and illustrator who lives and works in London. Known for her beautiful paper cut designs Petra is an extremely versatile artist, working in a variety of different mediums from illustration to fashion design and everything in between.

Her lovely designs have graced a wide range of objects, including textiles, drinking glasses, magazine covers, and even dog food bags.

In addition to being a great illustrator, Petra is also a skilled embroider, working with clients such as Jonathan Adler and Ikea (see her Ikea duvet cover after the jump).

For my part, I first fell in love with Petra's work after seeing her incredible book covers. I'm all about great book covers, so I was completely taken with her colorful covers the moment I saw them and was really impressed with the detailing of the designs. I work at a publishing company and over the years I've really come to appreciate the skill involved with designing a good cover. I've seen a lot of bad covers, so I know that it's not as easy as it looks!


I've been trying not to gush so much when I write these Mixing Bowl posts because I seem to do that every time, but I really have only scratched the surface as far a Petra's work is concerned. I don't have the space to post all the images that I want to share. There are just sooo many and her work is so varied!

Right now, Petra is sharing some wonderful chalk drawings, yet another medium that she works in, and her great recipe for Schackrutor. I'm really loving the two-tone colors in these cookies and the cool designs on each one! Thanks, Petra!

I've changed the width of the columns to accommodate larger pictures. Let me know if anyone has any problems with the new layout.

To see more of Petra's work, visit her Web site. Recipe and more images after the jump.



Schackrutor (Chess Squares)

Oven 175 - 200º
Ingredients:

4 1/2 dl flour

1/2 dl sugar
200 g margarine or butter
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
2 tablespoons Cacao powder

Mix the flour, sugar, butter in a bowl into a firm dough.
Cut the dough in two halves and mix the vanilla sugar in one and cacao powder in the other until smooth.
If too warm and sticky cool them in the fridge for a while to make it easier to handle.
Then have some fun with mixing the two parts together.
Before baking cut into about 3-4 mm thick cookies and bake for 7-10 mins.
Cool down and eat!

If you need help converting the measurements, click here for a nifty conversion calculator.