Last time I wrote my blog, I was in the land of misfit chef's.  It's been weeks since then am I am still in that land but although I am still an outcast here, I am practicing things on my own at home that are affordable to make and that have come out tasting pretty darn good.

I finally had a few dollars to buy a few ingredients to start practicing a few pastries to give myself a much needed ego boost.

So far I have not done soo bad.  Some things like the coffee-cocoa bread pudding didn't come out but as it turns out it was my oven which finally conked out over a week ago. 

The first thing on my agenda was to make checkerboard cookies.  These came out tasting pretty darn good and while the pattern wasn't quite checkerboard, I did it!  This recipe I learned from school and was done in teams so I wanted to attempt it on my own.  I just added a pinch of cinnamon to give it some more flavor and a fresh vanilla bean instead of vanilla extract.

 First you need to make the Vanilla Sable and the Chocolate Sable dough.

 Makes 3 Dozen cookies

Vanilla Sable Dough

16 oz of room temp butter

8 oz of sugar

Pinch of salt

pinch of cinnamon

2 egg yolks

2 tsp Vanilla extract or 1 Vanilla bean

1 1/4 pounds of all purpose flour (sifted)

Beat butter, sugar, salt until light. Then beat yolks one at a time.  Add the vanilla extract or the seeds of the vanilla bean.  Stop mixer and add all the sifted flour in.  Beat until dough forms (about 2 minutes).  Divide dough into a square about 1/4 inch thick, wrap and put in freezer while you make the chocolate sable dough.

Chocolate Sable Dough

9 oz room temp butter

12 oz of sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 whole eggs

1 tsp baking soda

2 fl oz of 2% milk or whole milk

18 oz all purpose flour

3 1/2 oz of Cocoa Powder

Beat butter, sugar, salt until light.  In a small bowl whisk baking soda and milk and set aside. Now beat yolks one at a time until smooth.  Then add the baking soda and milk mixture.  Stop mixer and add the sifted flour and cocoa butter.  Mix until incorporated...about 2 minutes.  As with the Vanilla Sable, divide the dough into two squares and chill in freezer for about 30minutes or until firm.

Now brush some egg wash over the vanilla dough square and place the chocolate dough over it.  (the egg wash acts as a glue) .   Cut the dough into two rectangles  brush egg wash on one rectangle and place the other one on top.  Then cut again. Make sure you 4 layers: vanilla, chocolate, vanilla, chocolate.  Chill again for about 30min-1hr .

Now cut the strips as wide as one layer...about 1/4 inch thick and stack the strips about 4 strips high.  Bake on a sheet pan with parchment paper and sprayed with pam for about 10-12 minutes. 

Does all this sound confusing?  I know it did for me too so I googled a video that showed me how to form the strips. 

It's actually a lot more simple that is sounds.  All you need is a little..or in my case a lot of patience and bam!  You have a delicious cookie.

This video is on youtube...courtesy of Dylannbakes.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp7eL5Jg6bU

These cookies boosted my ego a bit because they are somewhat complicated but i was able to do them and have since tried other recipes which I will share in upcoming posts as well as my journey to make that diploma for the pastry arts work for me.  Although money is extremely tight, the more i get to practice the better I become so I can move on to a restaurant I can truly be myself in♣