Butter cookies – Sablés for Valentine’s Day

Hi, today I made vanilla sablés for Valentine’s Day. These are in heart shape. Do you remember my coffee sablé video recipe? Today’s cookies are simpler and quicker to make.

Sablés are originated from Caen, Normandy. They are also called as butter cookies and shortbread biscuits in English.

Let’s get cooking!

Yield 50 cookies
Prep time: 20 min
Resting time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 15 min

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon caster sugar (128g)
• Pinch salt
• 1 1/10 stick unsalted butter, cold, diced (125g)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

For cookie icing,

• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon whipping cream (or milk/water)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food colors of your choice

Directions

Sabler In a mixing bowl, sift flour. Add in sugar and salt. Whisk until combined. Add in cold and diced butter. Then cut it with a pastry blender until the mixture looks sands. (this process is called sabler) Alternatively, you can use your fingers or pulse in a food processor.

Make the dough In a small bowl add an egg and vanilla extract. Beat until combined. Add egg mixture into the butter-flour mixture and mix until a dough forms. (again pulse if you use a food processor).

Reserve Make a disk and safely cover with plastic wrap. Reserve in the refrigerator for one hour. This is to stabilize the butter content in the dough.

Prepare baking Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F (160 C).

Roll out Roll 1/8 inch (3mm) thick with a rolling pin. And cut with cookie cutters. Arrange them directly on the cookie sheet. Sablés don’t really spread, so 1/2 inch (1.2cm) space between cookies is enough.

Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until light golden brown and crisp. Out of oven immediately transfer cookies to a wire wrack and let cool. If cookies are cooled on the cookie sheet, they will turn out too dry.

Make the cookie icing In a bowl, add in all ingredients and mix well until blended. Add more cream (or milk/water) until the desired thickness. If you want, stir in food color of your choice.

Decorate Glaze icing on cookies. Use sprinkles on top of icing if desired.

Now for icing,

And

here you go –

L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole

L is for the way you look at me
O is for the only one I see
V is very, very extraordinary
E is even more than anyone that you adore.

Love is the only thing I can give to you –

^.^

~ Watch my Vine stop-motion video ~