Guys. GUYS. I made Lemon Sablé Cookies.
I feel so French. Oh la la.
What is a sable (sablé) cookie?
Unless you watch a lot of Great British Bake Off or Food Network, you might be wondering what a sable cookie is.
Or, a sablé, if you want to ignore SEO ranking and be properly French.
Think of sables as super thin, extra crispy shortbread cookies.
The rich, buttery flavors of the two treats are very similar, but a sable recipe calls for egg yolks in and on the dough, which makes for a more decadent cookie.
Quelle surprise. I mean, it’s a French cookie. Of course, it’s going to be decadent.
A large sable cookie makes a great base for a fruit tart, a no-bake cheesecake, or a chocolate mousse pie.
However, when you bake them in miniature and add a little fresh lemon and vanilla, sable cookies become a perfect afternoon treat all on their own.
Why are Lemon Sable Cookies the book-inspired recipe for A Bakery in Paris?
Obviously, there are a ton of scrumptious-sounding French desserts in A Bakery in Paris.
There’s a moment in the book when Micheline’s elderly neighbor tastes one of her sable cookies.
One bite and she’s transported back to her childhood, when she tasted the same cookie recipe at Micheline’s grandmother’s bakery decades before.
The scene reminded me so much of the one in Ratatouille when the French restaurant critic has that flashback, and I knew I had to make Sable Cookies as my book-inspired recipe for this novel.
Author Aimie K. Runyan includes a Sable recipe in A Bakery in Paris, so I used that as my base for French Lemon Sable Cookies.
Why I love Lemon Sable Cookies
I’m not here to ostracize any cookies, but I have to say — while I do love me some traditional English shortbread, I think I’ve fallen in love with sables.
While sables are a classic cookie for the French home baker, they aren’t very popular in American bakeries or kitchens. I’m not sure why since they’re really quite delicious, especially when you want a thin, crispy cookie with a good snap!
Lemon Sable Cookies are perfectly snack-sized so you can eat ten of them at once, like I did.
No, I’m just kidding. Well, mostly. My limit is 4.5 cookies in a row. Though I think that’s only because I had a big lunch before baking.
Basically, you’re going to love them. And want to eat all of them. They’re extra crispy and crunchy when you bite into them, then all that butter and sugar just dissolves on your tongue a moment later.
The easy hack to making Lemon Sable Cookie dough. (Pssst. It’s using a food processor.)
You wanna know something cool about Lemon Sable Cookie dough? I made it in the food processor.
I feel like I’m a roll with this kitchen appliance. First the Cherry Chocolate Chip Scones, now these cookies. And you guys may remember from a long time ago that Mint Chocolate Cake can also be made in a food processor. **mind blown**
Anytime I don’t have to haul out the stand mixer — or wash a bajillion mixing bowls — is good.
Tips for making Lemon Sable Cookies
For all you bakers out there thinking that making fancy French cookies sounds a little tricky, fear not: if you can make sugar cookies, you can make Lemon Sable Cookies. There’s a reason most French home bakers make these — they’re really easy and require relatively few ingredients.
Here are some tips I followed for making the perfect Sable Cookies:
- Cold dough is super important! Since you need to roll the cookie dough really thin, the colder the dough, the better.
- Make sure you roll the dough out to the same thickness all around. There’s only a 1-2 minute difference between a well-baked sable and a burnt sable, and if some of the cookies on your baking sheet are thinner than the others, you might accidentally burn half your batch. #Whoops
- If you have one of those nifty rolling pins with the adjustable measuring rings (I don’t), this is a good time to break it out. I free-wheeled it and some of my cookies were a little too thin and turned out a little dark.
- Use a mini offset spatula to transfer to cookies from your work surface to the prepared cookie sheets in order to maintain their shape.
- Bake cookies at a lower-than-usual temperature – just 325F. These cookies are super thin, so you wanna go low and slow with these batches.
What’s a French-themed menu to serve with Lemon Sable Cookies?
Say you’re having a French-themed dinner party, and you want to serve Lemon Sable Cookies. Great! Here’s what to serve as the rest of the meal.
I took a peek through my book-inspired recipes, and I have more French-inspired recipes on here than I thought. Here’s what I suggest:
Start with an appetizer of miniature brie en croute with my Baked Brie Bites.
You can make traditional French dinner of Coq au Vin, or a slightly more unconventional dish like Grand-Mere’s Friday Night Chicken. A bed of pasta or rice, plus some Broiled Broccolini are great side dishes for either meal.
If you want meatless French meal, try a fun twist on a French classic like Ratatouille Pasta.
Obviously, dessert would be the French Lemon Sable Cookies, but Raspberry Rose Profiteroles or Chocolate Espresso Mousse are other Parisian patisserie delights to offer your guests variety.
French Lemon Sable Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into pats
- 3 egg yolks, at room temperature, DIVIDED
- zest of two lemons
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
- Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
PREP INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 325F.
- Line four baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Separate two egg yolks from their whites into a small bowl and set aside. You can discard the egg whites or use them in another recipe.
- Separate the remaining egg yolk into a different bowl and whisk in a few drops of water. Set aside. You can discard the egg white or use it in another recipe.
- Place a large piece of plastic wrap on your work surface for later.
BAKING INSTRUCTIONS
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with an S-shaped blade (the standard blade), pulse together the butter and granulated sugar until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
- Zest the lemons into the small bowl containing two egg yolks, then add in the pinch of salt, vanilla extract, and the 1 tbsp lemon juice. Whisk together with a fork until just combined.
- Add the liquid mixture to the butter and sugar in the food processor and pulse until mixture is smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add 1 cup of flour to the food processor and pulse until flour is just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl, then add the 2ndcup of flour and pulse until all flour is just incorporated and you have a soft dough. Do not overmix.
- Carefully scrape the sable cookie dough onto the plastic wrap. Pat dough into a square, wrap well, and freeze for 10 minutes, or until dough is chilled and a little firm.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar onto your work surface and unwrap chilled dough. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thickness; you may need to roll the dough out in batches, and don’t worry if it cracks at the edges.
- Use a cookie cutter to cut out your desired sable cookie shapes. Place cookies on the prepared cookie sheets; you can fit 9-12 cookies on each sheet since they won’t spread in the oven. Gather dough scraps and repeat rolling andcutting process as needed.
- Chill the sable cookies on the cookie sheets in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove cookie sheets from the fridge and immediately brush with the egg yolk and water mixture, then sprinkle lightly with Turbinado sugar.
- Bake sable cookies at 325F until light golden brown, 12-14 minutes.
- Remove sable cookies from oven and cool on sheets for 2-3 minutes, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
