Butter cookies are one of my favorite snacks, whether shortbread cookies, Danish butter cookies, or Sablé cookies. Sometimes I do feel guilty to eat too much butter and sugar, but cookies are such an easy thing to share – so that gives a good excuse to bake butter cookies and share with others!
I was trying different butter cookie recipes and like making Sablé butter cookies. They require only a few ingredients, and not much special equipment. You can also pre-make it in advance, and take them out for baking when you want.
What is the difference between shortbread and sablé?
“Sablé” in French means sandy. Sablé cookies usually have a crumbly texture, just like some wet sand when you eat a bite of it. Some people say Sablé is the French kind of shortbread cookies
Can cake flour be used for cookies?
It depends on the recipe and the texture you want in your cookies. Cake flour has less protein (around 7-9%) compared to other flour types. Usually, cake flour will result in softer and fluffier cookies. In our Sablé cookies recipe, we use a mix of cake flour and almond flour. Almond flour is a high-fat flour and contains a lot of moisture. So this flour mixture gives a good balance and gives the crumbly sandy texture of Sablé cookies.
Should you use salted or unsalted butter for cookies?
Ideally, most recipes will recommend using unsalted butter, because you can control how much salt to put in. However, I find it even more important to use the best quality butter, because you can really taste the difference. Living in Germany, one brand that I like and can easily find in most supermarkets is the Président brand from France. Even though sometimes I don’t find the unsalted version, I still rather use it and not put any extra salt in my recipe.
Sablé butter cookies
Ingredients
- 200 g Butter unsalted Good quality, preferably French butter.
- 70 g Powdered Sugar
- 20 g Vanilla Sugar or use good quality vanilla, and add 10g extra powdered sugar
- 30 g Egg Yolk
- 2 g Salt
- 225 g Cake flour or 55g cornstarch & 170g plain flour
- 100 g Almond flour
- Choco chips Optional
- Sanding sugar/Cane sugar Optional
Instructions
Prepare cookie dough
- Leave the butter at room temperature. If you live in a cold habitat, leave it out overnight.
- Beat the butter until white and fluffy using an electric beater.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla sugar to the butter. Beat it with the slowest speed to avoid the sugar flying.
- Add the egg yolk in 2 separate batches. Mix well after each time.
- Add the flour to the butter mixture, and mix well. The cookie dough is basically ready. Split them into two equal halves.
- If you want to add chocolate chips, mix them in the cookie dough.
Shape the cookie dough
- On baking paper, shape the cookie dough into a roll, with a 2.5-3cm diameter. Make sure you keep the dough tight and don't leave air within.
- Put the dough in the fridge for at least an hour. You can also keep it overnight or even if you want to prepare ahead of time, leave it in the freezer.
Bake the cookie
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
- If you like to add some sugar to the rims of the cookies, spread some sugar on a tray, and roll the cookie dough over.
- Cut the dough into pieces at around 0.8-1 cm each. Place them on a baking tray.
- Bake in the oven on the middle/lower rack for 10-15mins. Cool completely before serving.
