Happy Galentine’s Day (or Valentine’s Day)!
Honestly, what’s more romantic than waking up late, and smelling food being cooked in the kitchen, knowing that it’s for you and a favorite person? Especially if said food is BRUNCH. Unfortunately, this is not a brunch recipe, but gosh, I’mjustsaying…brunch is the way to a gal’s heart, mine, specifically *nudge nudge wink wink*.
Anywho, if waking up to homemade brunch is the most romantic, being blessed with the best girlfriends is the luckiest. I’m not romancing anytime soon, but I thought I’d make some cookies for the sake of galentines. But also, they’re irresistibly good and sophisticated. Even without a reason to make them, I would. Not to mention, they appear in animes a lot and anime food ALWAYS looks divine! Sorry, not sorry for being an anime-shoujo nerd!
Anywho, I totally stole this recipe. The only difference is that I didn’t have (I still don’t) Dutch-processed cocoa. I used some good-old cocoa powder. The cookies still tasted real good, but I’d imagine cocoa powder would yield a ‘dark chocolate’ flavor that the original recipe doesn’t. Click here to learn more about Dutch-processed cocoa versus normal cocoa powder.
I’ve made these cookies countless time, for friend’s birthdays, Christmas, for tea, etc. so I can assure you, it’s a solid recipe. Don’t be afraid of using cocoa powder instead of Dutch-processed!
Cost-wise, 2 trays of checkerboard cookies (half-chocolate and half-vanilla) utilizing normal cocoa powder is only $4.24. Can you believe that? I think in stores, they would mark a small box of these “gourmet cookies” upwards $5! Meanwhile, we get two trays for less than that! If you use dutch-processed cocoa instead, it would cost $4.53.
The interesting thing about this recipe is that it uses a cooked egg yolk. Weirdly enough, I’ve found that although most people know how to boil eggs, most people know how to boil “perfect” eggs. Heck, I didn’t until the author of the original recipe explained…
You’ll need 2 boiled eggs in the cookie recipe. Since I’ve discovered this method, I’ve never made my boiled eggs any other way.
Sablé Cookies (Shortbread)
Ingredients
Vanilla Dough:- 10 tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1/3 Cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 boiled egg yolk, grated
- 1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/3 Cup sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 boiled egg yolk, grated
- 1 1/3 Cup flour
- 1/4 Cup Dutch-processed cocoa
Directions
- Beat together butter, sugar, eggs, salt, and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour and mix until just combined. Press into a solid mass.
- Repeat process for chocolate dough but pay attention to the ingredients for the chocolate dough (add flour and cocoa)
- Divide vanilla and chocolate dough into halves. Roll each of the four portions into a 3×5 rectangle.
- Put a vanilla portion on top of chocolate and press gently to seal them together.
- Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Use a sharp chef’s knife to level the sides of the rectangular dough.
- Slice each rectangle lengthwise into 4 equal portions.
- Alternate slices so the flavors are alternating to create a checker effect. Press the two alternate strips together to seal them together. Trim any un-level sides.
- Chill in the fridge for at least an hour. You should have 4 long strips. The dough can be kept in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line 2 trays with parchment paper. Slice each strip into quarter-inch cookies (rotating the dough every once in a while so that the weight of the knife doesn’t misshapen the dough as much). Leave about and inch apart between cookies on the baking trays.
- Bake on the middle and lower racks of the oven until the edges are browned (it’s hard to tell with chocolate dough so keep an eye on the vanilla parts).
Variations!
Sablé Cookies don’t have to be in checkerboard (vanilla/chocolate) form. In fact, these cookies are really versatile both in form and in flavor. Try rolling the cookies into pinwheels (spirals), adding orange zest, lemon zest, dried fruits, chocolate chips, coffee, etc.
Ingredients: vanilla, matcha, chocolate decorations.
Ingredients: chocolate, vanilla, lemon zest, dried cranberries, matcha, sugar icing.
I tested a similar recipe that uses raw eggs instead of boiled. It was also really good. Check it out here.
HUNGRY CRAVING 
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