Christmas Cookies from Switzerland- buttery crispy Sablés
Sablés are round shortbread cookies of French origin made from a buttery cookie dough. The French word “sable” means sand and refers to the crumbly, sandy consistency of the cookies. Sablés are easy to bake using ingredients that you usually already have at home. They are deliciously buttery, but wonderfully crispy at the same time. Sablé dough works perfectly fine for numerous flavor variations with different ingredients (see below).
Mix
250 g soft butter
120 g white sugar
1 package of vanilla sugar
1 pinch of salt
Sieve and add
350 g white flour
and knead into a nice homogenous cookie dough. If the dough gets too sticky, add a little bit of flour. If the dough is too crumbly and dry, add homeopathic doses (!) of milk until obtaining the desired texture.
A little hint for those using a mixer: If the dough gets too crumbly use your hands to knead it together. The warmth of your hands will help to get the desired texture, without adding any extra liquid.
Cut the dough in three or four pieces. Sprinkel a bit of sugar on a clean cutting board and shape the dough into logs with about 4 cm in diameter. Wrap each log in plastic or baking paper and put them for about an hour in the freezer. Slice the log in 5 mm thick slices. Places the slices on a baking tray and let them rest for 30 min in the fridge or any other cool place.
Bake at 200° C for about 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Transfer the sablés on a cooling rack and let them cool down. Enjoy!
Variations
This basic recipes allows for many different, tasty and creative sablé variations. Here are some ideas:
with chocolate cubes: Knead the chocolate cubes into the dough and then shape into a log. Continue as described above.
with caramel cubes: Knead the caramel cubes into the dough. Instead of granulated sugar, roll the dough in coarse cane sugar.
with nuts: Roughly chop pistachios, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, etc. and knead into the dough. For fancy sablés, crush roasted nuts (such as roasted almonds) in a food processor (or in a plastic bag with a rolling pin) and knead into the dough.
with cranberries or raisins: Knead the dried cranberries or raisins into the dough.
Chocolate Sablés: Knead 1-2 tablespoons of chocolate powder into the dough. If the dough becomes too dry, add milk drop by drop until it reaches the desired consistency.
Marbled Sablés: Divide the finished dough in half and knead chocolate powder into one half. Then knead both parts together to create a beautiful marbled pattern. Shape into a log and continue as described above.
with lemon or orange: Use a lemon peeler to remove the zest from an untreated lemon or orange and knead it into the dough. Mix 150 g powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons lemon or orange juice to make a glaze. After baking, brush the sablés with the glaze and allow to dry thoroughly.
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