Sables Food

SABLE COOKIES

Steps:

• Line baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.
• Place butter and sugar in the bowl of a food processor; process until creamy. Add egg yolks, salt, and vanilla; process for 30 seconds until combined. Add 1 cup flour and process until smooth. Add remaining cup of flour to processor; process to combine. Turn dough out onto work surface and form into flat square; wrap with plastic wrap and transfer to refrigerator until chilled.
• Place a nonstick baking mat on work surface. Place half of the chilled dough on baking mat; top with a sheet of plastic wrap. Roll out dough between baking mat and plastic wrap until it is 1/8-inch-thick. Transfer to fridge to chill until firm, about 30 minutes. Repeat process with remaining dough.
• Using a 2-inch round fluted cookie cutter, cut out dough and transfer to prepared baking sheets. Transfer baking sheets to refrigerator until dough is chilled, about 20 minutes. Roll out scraps, and repeat. Repeat process with remaining dough. Transfer to refrigerator and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Mix together remaining egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water; brush tops of cookies with egg white mixture. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Transfer to oven. Bake until cookies are pale golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE SABLE COOKIES (FRANCE)

Steps:

• Grate the chilled chocolate with a fine grater or rasp and set aside.
• Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and sea salt.
• Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until just combined. Mix in the yolk. Add the dry ingredients to the butter and beat lightly together until just combined but still crumbly. Fold in grated chocolate with a spatula. Bring the dough together by lightly squeezing in your hands; but don't knead or overwork, as the secret to these cookies is their delicate, sandy texture.
• Divide the dough in half. Lay half the dough on a long sheet of waxed paper and shape into a log along the width of the waxed paper, leaving some space at each end. Pull the paper over the top of the log. Grip the edge of the top piece of paper, and use a straight, firm edge, like a ruler or the edge of a pan, to press gently against the edge of the dough where the papers come together to create a solid, firm round log. Repeat with remaining dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (To keep logs round store inside an empty paper towel roll.)
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Slice logs into 1/2-inch thick rounds with a sharp, thin knife. Divide rounds onto the prepared sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Bake until cookies smell fragrant with a full cocoa aroma and set on the outside, about 12 to 14 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pans, about 5 minutes.
• Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely. Serve.
• Busy baker's tips: Dough can be made and frozen for up to 2 weeks. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Baked cookies can be wrapped in plastic wrap, then aluminum foil and frozen for up to 2 weeks.
• Cook's note: For super uniform cookies, place each sliced disk of dough in a muffin tin and bake. The cookies will be chewier, less sandy this way.
• Copyright 2007 Television Food Network, G.P. All rights reserved

SABLES (NORMAN SUGAR COOKIES)

Steps:

• Sift the flour and the sugar into a large bowl and add the butter, bit by but, mixing with an electric mixer or by hand.
• Continue mixing until the dough takes on a sandy consistency.
• Add four of the egg yolks, one by one, the salt and the vanilla, continuing to mix.
• Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4".
• With a cookie or biscuit cutter (or a small glass) cut out two inch circles and place on a lightly buttered cookie sheet.
• Mix the remaining egg yolk with the milk and, with a pastry brush, coat the top of each cookie.
• With the tip of a small knife, score 6 or 7 stripes on each cookie.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
• Remove from oven, cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.

LINZER SABLéS

Steps:

• Whisk together the ground nuts, flour, cinnamon, and cloves. Set aside. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and both sugars and salt together at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Meanwhile, using a fork, stir the egg and water together in a small bowl and add it to the butter/sugar mixture. Turn off the mixer, add the dry ingredients, then turn it on low and mix only until they disappear into the dough.
• Divide the dough in half. Working with one half at a time, put the dough between two large sheets of wax paper. Using your hands, flatten the dough into a disk, then grab a rolling pin and roll out the dough, turning it over frequently so that the paper doesn't cut into it, until it is about 1⁄4 inch thick. Leave the dough in the paper and repeat with the second piece of dough. Transfer the wrapped dough to a baking sheet (to keep it flat) and refrigerate or freeze it until it is very firm, about 2 hours in the refrigerator or about 45 minutes in the freezer. The rolled-out dough can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Just thaw the dough enough to cut out the cookies and proceed from there.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Working with one piece of dough at a time and using a cookie cutter, cut out rounds of dough. Place the circles of dough on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper, about 1½-inches apart. Gather the scraps so you can re-roll with the next batch. Bake, 11-13 minutes.
• Cookies are done when there's color around the edges and on the bottom. Let cool 5 minutes, then sandwich with a teaspoon of raspberry jam (thinned with a splash of water and heated in the microwave). Finish with a dusting of confectioners' sugar just before serving.

ESPRESSO CHOCOLATE SABLÉS

Steps:

• Dissolve the espresso in the boiling water. Set the extract aside to cool to lukewarm or room temperature.
• Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it, together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed, until well blended.
• Mix in the vanilla and espresso extract on low speed. Turn off the mixer, add the flour all at once and pulse to begin incorporating it, then mix on low speed until the flour almost disappears into the dough. Scrape down the bowl, add the chopped chocolate and mix until evenly distributed. Give the dough a few last turns with a sturdy flexible spatula.
• Turn the dough out onto the counter and divide it in half. Shape each half into a disk. Working with one piece of dough at a time, sandwich it between pieces of parchment paper and roll it to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Slide the dough, still sandwiched, onto a baking sheet-you can stack the slabs-and freeze the dough for at least 1 hour, or refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Getting ready to bake:
• Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 325ºF. Butter or spray a regular muffin tin, or two tins, if you've got them. Have a 2-inch-diameter cookie cutter at hand.
• Working with one sheet of dough at a time, peel away both pieces of paper and put the dough back on one piece of paper. Cut the dough and drop the rounds into the muffin tin(s).
• The dough might not fill the molds completely, but it will once baked. Save the scraps from both pieces of dough, then gather them together, re-roll, chill and cut.
• Bake the cookies for 18 to 20 minutes, or until they feel firm to the touch and have some color. Transfer the muffin tin(s) to a rack and leave the cookies in the tin(s) for about 10 minutes before carefully lifting them out onto the rack to cool completely.
• Continue with the remainder of the dough, if you only baked one sheet, always using cool tins.
• Playing Around
• For Ringed Espresso-Chocolate Sablés: If you have 2-inch baking rings, use them to cut out the rolled dough. Bake the dough-in the rings-on lined baking sheets just as you would the muffin-tin cookies. Leave the rings in place for at least 20 minutes before lifting them off, rinsing and reusing.