Sables French Butter Cookies Recipes

FRENCH BUTTER COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in 2 egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour and salt. Divide dough into 2 portions; shape each into a disk. Cover; refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 350°. Working with 1 portion of dough at a time, roll to 1/4-in. thickness between parchment. Cut with floured 2-in. round cookie cutter. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Whisk remaining egg yolk and water; brush over cookies. Create a cross-hatch design by dragging the tines of a fork across the cookie., Bake until edges are light golden, 12-15 minutes. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

SABLE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Line baking sheet with parchment.
• In mixer cream together butter, sugar and salt. Add the eggs and blend well. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Add the flour mixture all at once to the butter mixture and stir until just blended.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured pan and pat it out to 3/4 inch to 1-inch thick. Cover with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly. Using dough in small amounts, roll cookie dough onto a floured work surface. Roll dough to desired thickness. Cut cookies with a heart shaped cookie cutter. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet about 2-inches apart. These cookies do not spread. Bake for 12 to 18 minutes depending on size. Cool on baking sheet.
• Melt white chocolate snaps, divide melted chocolate into thirds. Place black food coloring in 1/3, red in another 1/3, leaving 1 without food coloring. Take cookie and dip in white chocolate for a base. Place black and red chocolate into separate pastry bags. Design a heart on cookie with red white chocolate and pipe "I Love New York" on cookies with black chocolate.

FRENCH SABLES

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat thoroughly. Combine flour and salt. Add to the butter mixture and blend until the dough is smooth. On a very lightly floured surface, shape the dough into cylinders about 1 to 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush refrigerated logs with beaten egg and roll in crystalline sugar. With a sharp knife, slice the dough into rounds about 1/3-inch thick. Place 1-inch apart on a parchment covered baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cookies are slightly colored around the edges.

FRENCH BUTTER COOKIES (SABLES)

Steps:

• Place the egg in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once water comes to a boil, remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a small bowl with ice water. Transfer the egg to the ice water and let stand about 5 minutes. Peel the shell off the egg, then separate the yolk from the white - you are only using the yolk for this recipe.
• Add butter, sugar, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer. Press the yolk through a fine-mesh strainer into the bowl. Using the paddle attachment, beat together the ingredients on medium speed for about 4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides as needed. Turn mixer to low and add vanilla. Stop the mixer and add the flour. Mix on low speed until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to press the dough together into a cohesive mass, then divide the dough in half.
• Roll each half into a log about 5 inches long and 1 ¾ inches in diameter. Tightly wrap each log in a 12-inch square of parchment paper. Twist one end of the paper, and then twist the other end to seal and firmly compact the dough in a tight cylinder. Chill until firm, about one hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a sharp knife, slice the dough into ¼-inch thick rounds, rotating the dough log slightly after each cut so that the shape stays intact. Place cookies 1 inch apart on baking sheets.
• Using a pastry brush, brush cookies with egg white mixture and sprinkle evenly with sugar. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden brown. I like to bake these in two separate batches - if you do it at the same time, make sure you rotate the sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking.
• Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

BRETON SALTED BUTTER SABLéS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir in the 3 whole eggs, until just incorporated.
• Sift together the flour and salt over the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Combine with a spatula until it all comes together into a soft ball. It is essential to stop mixing as soon as the ingredients are all combined; over-mixing will make the sablés too tough. Wrap the dough in plastic film and chill for 1 hour.
• Pre-heat your oven to 350F (180C) with a rack in the middle.
• Transfer the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper. Lay another sheet of parchment paper on top and roll the dough until it is ½-inch thick (1.27cm). Peel off the top sheet of parchment paper and cut out circles of dough with a 2-inch (5cm) round cookie cutter (scalloped, if you want to stick to the authentic look).
• Transfer the dough circles onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. The dough is still quite sticky, you may need a spatula to delicately unpeel the circles.
• In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk with the milk and brush the top of the dough circles with this egg wash. Using a fork, create a crosshatch pattern over the dough circles.
• Bake for 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheet mid-way.
• Transfer the sablés immediately to a cooling rack.