Why Do My Checkerboard Cookies Fall Apart When I Slice Them?

Why Do My Checkerboard Cookies Fall Apart When I Slice Them?

There are few moments in baking more visually satisfying than slicing into a perfectly assembled log of checkerboard cookie dough. You see those crisp, clean lines, the beautiful contrast of light and dark. But there is also a uniquely crushing moment when, instead of a perfect mosaic, the whole thing crumbles and separates under the knife. All that careful work, all that precise stacking, undone in an instant.