Recipe: Holladais, French Checkerboard Cookies

I always find Checkerboard cakes and cookies interesting. It must tough to have the layers neatly cut and layers to form the final product.

I jumped into the idea when my friend came up with a theme for our baking meet-up (#bakersarena). The theme for this meet-up is Cube. Hence, square shape items came right into my mind. What is more squarish than the Checkerboard Biscuits? Just look at the number of squares on one biscuits. I did brownie and cut them into cube since Checkerboard Cookies are not really 'cube' technically anyway.

I went online to browse through recipes and settle with a recipe from Eugenie Kitchen. The reason? She has a Youtube channel and a video (see below) showing me the whole process of getting it done. even if I have not perfect the skills, I will not be too far away. Right? haha. Anyway, her channel has lots of videos showing colourful and vibrant-looking recipes. Looking real good!


I must say that the baking steps and ingredients are not alien to me. But it sure take a lot of time to get it done. In fact, I made my 'Blackie' in between the waiting time for the checker dough to be ready in the fridge. Lots of waiting, really! I swear I can make a few more desserts if I have all the ingredients ready.

Despite all the waiting, I am glad that I give it a try. It is fun to make and accomplishment to see it completed. There might be some short cuts out there for me to explore! May try the recipe again and will share if I managed to cut short the time.

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Checkerboard Cookies

Prep time: 5 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Waiting time: 2 hours

Ingredients

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 300g plain flour (or cake flour)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, mixed with 4 teaspoons hot water

Method:

1. Whisk the butter till light and creamy.
2. Sift in sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Whisk to combine.
3. Add in the egg yolks one by one, mixing them well together after each addition.
4. Sift in the flour. Fold the mixture until fine sands.
5. Transfer half of the mixture onto a clean working surface.
6. Mix, form a ball and make the mixture into a rectangular shape.
7. Cling wrapped the dough and left it refrigerated.
8. Mix the rest with the cocoa mixture evenly, repeat step 6 and 7.
9. Keep it refrigerated for at least one hour.
10. Remove from fridge and stack them in alternate coloured layers. Cut them into strips.
11. Arrange them in alternate colours to form the checkerboard. Cling wrapped them for hours before using them.
12. Sliced them into pieces of 2-3 cm thick.
13. Bake at 180 deg. (180degC) for 16 minutes, or until slightly swollen.
14. Preheat the oven at 180 deg C / Gas mark 4. Prepare a square baking tin.

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Note:
1. It might be more easy to visualize by seeing the pictures in Cook & Be Merry.