Chocolate Sables
February 13th, 2014 | 26 Comments
Let’s just pretend I’ve been here the whole time, and pick up where we left off, shall we?
I’ve been getting some friendly nudging to get this ol’ blog kicking again, so why not, and here we are. We can ease into it with a cookie that doesn’t require any electrical appliances to mix up — just a bowl, a spoon, and our big, meaty hands.
It’s one of those delicate, lightly crisp and sandy chocolate butter cookies that practically dissolves on contact. If you get them rolled and keep them in the freezer, you can just slice a few rounds to bake off right then and there, as the urge strikes. They are just nice to have around. They can be our winter comforter.
Chocolate Sables
makes about 24 cookies. These keep well for about 3 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
I tend to like this sort of sifter. It really makes life easier.
For the dough:
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (75 g) powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups (200 g) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (25 g) cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon (pinch) salt
2 sticks (200 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 large egg
For the sugar coating:
1 large egg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1. What we’ll need…
2. Pour the powdered sugar, flour, cocoa powder and salt into a sifter.
3. Sift away. Watch the snowy goodness fall gently into your bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, mash your butter and egg together until pretty well mixed.
5. And pour the dry ingredients over your wet ingredients. For you newbies, this is a pretty standard technique, where you pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix together. So many cookies are like this.
Start mixing. At first, it may seem that it won’t come together…
But keep mixing, and working, and eventually…
…it does all mash up.
Once you feel it is all reasonably mixed, scoop the dough onto some plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours. The dough needs to firm up enough to be able to roll into a log.
Here we are, 4 hours later. The dough is quite firm. It’s also a good time to start preheating your oven to 375 degrees F.
Start working it into a log shape, and roll on a lightly floured surface to prevent sticking. It may require some muscle, since the dough is so cold. I’ll be the first to admit, the next few pics don’t look so photogenic, ahem.
Here it is, shaped to my satisfaction. About 1.5 ” in diameter.
Next up, we’ll need the egg in a small bowl, and the sugar on a piece of parchment, or a sheet pan, or a cutting board, or whatever you have that’s a flat surface.
Quickly brush the log with egg all the way around, otherwise known as egg wash.
And roll the log in the sugar until it is completely coated.
Slice. I’d say about a generous 1/4 inch. I like to roll the log over each time I slice, so that it doesn’t flatten on one side from the pressure of my knife.
Spread these out on a parchment-lined sheet pan, and bake for approximately nine minutes. It’s hard to tell by sight when these are baked through because the coloring is already dark.
But they will look more or less like this. They will firm up as they cool, so give them about 15 minutes out of the oven before taking that first bite.
Yum!
Chocolate Sables
makes about 24 cookies. These keep well for about 3 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
I tend to like this sort of sifter
For the dough:
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (75 g) powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups (200 g) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (25 g) cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon (pinch) salt
2 sticks (200 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 large egg
For the sugar coating:
1 large egg
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1. Sift powdered sugar, flour, cocoa powder and salt into a medium bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mash your butter and egg together until pretty well mixed.
3. Pour the dry ingredients over your wet ingredients and mix well. At first, it may not seem like it will mix, but keep working it, and it will.
4. Once you feel it is all reasonably mixed, scoop the dough onto some plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least 4 hours. The dough needs to firm up enough to be able to roll into a log.
5. Once cold, you can preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and start shaping it into a log. Roll into a 1.5 inch log on a lightly floured surface (to prevent sticking). It may require some muscle, since the dough is so cold.
6. Next up, we’ll need the egg in a small bowl, and the sugar on a piece of parchment, or a sheet pan, or a cutting board, or whatever you have that’s a flat surface.
7. Quickly brush the log with egg all the way around, otherwise known as egg wash.
8. Roll the log in the sugar coating until completely covered.
9. Slice the cookies into 1/4 ” rounds. I like to roll the log over each time I slice, so that it doesn’t flatten on one side from the pressure of my knife.
10. Lay these out on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart.
11. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 9 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes, so they get a chance to firm up. Enjoy!
Tags: chocolate, chocolate sables, Cookies
26 Responses to “Chocolate Sables”
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I had a career going in advertising when one day I got the crazy idea to start over and become a pastry chef. Now I'll show you what I learned working in fine dining restaurants all over NYC right here with step-by-step photos. So grab your rolling pin and join in.
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Oh, these look so good! Hmmm, think I may have to add just a touch of mint extract to this recipe.
We’ve missed you!!! Glad you’re back. I will forever be grateful for your macaron tutorial!!!
Great recipe cant wait to see more 😉
Yeah! You are back!
SO happy you´re back! Really…this space is definitivfely one of my favorites!
Glad to see you back.
awesome recipe! very very good! I am about to start my patisserie course in the winter so this will be in my recipe book of things to try out 😀
Hey guys! Glad you’re all still here!
your always coming up with such great recipes, your photos are great , your man must be one lucky guy to have all those sweets around :))
The need to feed myself with these cookies.
They look absolutely yummy!
I just found your website last month and am so glad you are going to start posting again!
Thank you for reading!
ohhh myyyy goshhhh i’m so glad your back! missed your blog! I’ve been reading it since you started it!
So glad to see this blog reactivated! Can’t wait to see what new recipes you will share with us.
Hi, I discovered your website a few weeks ago and I’ve tried quite a few recipes since then. These chocolate biscuits are great! They reminds me of the buttery biscuits since childhood. I also tried the lemon curd/mousse it’s wonderful. I love lemon so much. Thanks so much for sharing the recipes and knowledge. 🙂
Hi Rachel, Thank you for immersing yourself so fully into these recipes:). Hope you keep baking.
I’m so pleased to see you back, and I will be following you avidly. What I particularly like about your recipes is that you have metric weights as well as US volume measures, so many American recipes only have the volumes which is not so good for us on the other side of the pond! I will be trying these cookies very soon and will let you know how they turn out for me. Thank you for e-mailing me to let me know you are blogging again.
Glad to see you’re back! Was sorry to see you go quiet before. Will really enjoy your upcoming tutorials!
Hi,
I should give this a try! thanks!
Hi, thanks for the recipe. I think they will be just like the ones sold by the gram at that funky cookie shop in Paris!
Great recipe! Thank you for sharing .
What a good thing that you sent an email to publicize your latest posts. I haven’t been following food blogs as much as I used to, but your email reminded me how much I enjoy your lively writing style and excellent tutorials. You have a real talent!
Hi Astrid — Thanks for coming back! It has been a while!
so glad you’re back. now I’m gonna try some of these tout suite
FINALLY!!!!!!!!! I’ve been checking the link for the past year and a half, wondering where did you run off to and how are your renovations coming along! Shame on you 😀 SO happy you’re back! I always think of your recipes whenever I flip through my own copy of Sarabeth’s Bakery. Hope all is well!
Hey Blankie! I missed you too. Your comments always gave me a chuckle 🙂