I
was super excited about Abby Dodge’s March
#baketogether project – savory sables. In my mind, French Sables are
the ultimate, buttery icebox cookie. Ooooooh la la!
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| Sables just out of the oven - cooling on a kitchen window sill. |
I will note, again, that #baketogether is open to all bakers. Simply follow the clear directions on Abby's site, get inspired and get baking! It's fun to participate and see all the clever spins on Abby's easy-to-follow, instructional recipes. I would definitely head over to Abby's site to see this month's technique in pics before you try this recipe. As a side note, I also use a food processor for pie dough and love the results - very consistent.
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| You can see that my sables are not perfectly cut - lopsided! - but they are a lovely, nutty brown color. And that made a very happy baker. |
Lemon, Pepper and Parmesan Sables
Makes 29 cracker size sables or 40 coin size nibbles
1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) unbleached,
all purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated
Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 teaspoon sea salt (fine grain)
1/4 teaspoon (or more to taste)
freshly ground black pepper
Zest of 1 medium lemon
Zest of 1 medium lemon
8 tablespoons (4 ounces)
unsalted butter, cut into 7 slices, well chilled
2 tablespoons + 1 1/2
teaspoons very cold water (if your dough is DRY (like mine) add water in 1/2 tsp increments until desired consistency is reached)
Coarse sea salt for
sprinkling (optional, but recommended, and I prefer Maldon for sprinkling)
To make the dough:
1. Put the flour, cheese,
salt and black pepper in a food processor and pulse briefly to combine. Add the
butter and pulse until the butter pieces are slightly larger than pea size,
about 10 to 12 pulses depending on your machine. Drizzle the water evenly over
the flour mixture. Pulse until the dough begins to form moist crumbs that are
just beginning to clump together, about 8 or 9 more pulses depending on your
machine.
2. Dump the moist crumbs
onto the unfloured counter and gather into a pile. With the heel of you hand,
push and gently smear the crumbs away from you until they start to come
together in a cohesive dough. Two or three ‘smears’ should do the trick. Using
a bench scraper, gather the dough together and turn it about 45 degrees and
give it one or two more smears.
Gather the dough together and shape the dough into a 7 1/4-inch long and
2 1/4 -inch wide rectangle using the bench scraper to make the sides nice and
straight.
OR, create a rounded log that can be cut into bite size
coins. I prefer this size to serve with wine or cocktails. The video link is helpful, but I normally just place the dough in a sheet of waxed paper/plastic wrap and, using my hands, roll the log back-and-forth until I have a nicely shaped log.
Either way, wrap the log tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours, or up to 2 days.
Either way, wrap the log tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm, about 3 hours, or up to 2 days.
3. Position a rack in the
center of the oven and heat the oven to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment. Using a thin,
sharp knife, cut the rectangle logs, or round logs, into 1/4-inch slices and
arrange about 1 inch apart (they don’t spread much at all) on the prepared
sheets. If making “coins,” you will need to turn your log after each cut to ensure the
shape of the “coins” is consistent.
If you like, sprinkle the
sables with your favorite salt salt just before they go in the oven.
Bake, one sheet at a time, until nutty brown around the edges, 16 to 18 minutes. Serve slightly warm or room temperature.
4. The dough can be shaped
and frozen for up to a month and then thawed for about an hour on the counter
or in the refrigerator overnight. Likewise, tuck the baked and cooled sables in
a heavy duty zip top bag and stash them in the freezer. Thaw at room
temperature and warm them for a few minutes at 325°F to refresh the flavors.
Happy Baking!
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