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French Butter Cookies - Classic French Sablé Cookies

A Simple Classic Recipe for French Sablé Cookies
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Prep Time:10 minutes
Chilling Time:1 hour
Total Time:1 hour 25 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: French
Keyword: Butter Cookies, French Butter Cookies, French Cookies, French Sablé Cookies, Sablé Cookies
Servings: 10

Ingredients

  • 1/2 Cup Butter, Room Temperature
  • 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1/8 tsp Salt
  • 1 Egg Yolk, Room Temperature
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 + 1/8 Cup All Purpose Flour, Sifted
  • Turbinado Sugar, for sprinkling on top

Instructions

  • In a medium mixing bowl, cream the Butter and Sugar together with a hand mixer on medium-high. Mix until pale, light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
  • Add the Egg Yolk, Salt, and Vanilla. Continue to mix until well combined and fluffy.
  • Sift in the Flour. Mix until just combined. Take care not to over-mix, as it will produce "tougher" cookies.
  • Turn dough out onto plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and pop in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
  • Remove chilled dough from refrigerator. Place dough between two pieces of parchment paper. Flatten out with fingers to a disk shape.
  • Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness. An easy way to do this, and keep the dough at an even width, is to place a 1/4" dowel (or similar item) on either side of the dough, between the layers of parchment. Place them slightly less than the width of your rolling pin. Roll the dough out by rolling the rolling pin on top of the dowels. The dough will end up being an even 1/4" width.
  • Place the rolled dough, keeping between the parchment layers, into the refrigerator. Chill for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 350℉ standard, 325℉ for convection.
  • After dough has chilled, remove from fridge. Using a 2" cookie cutter, cut out individual cookies and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Take "scraps" and repeat the rolling and cutting process until all the dough has been used.
  • Sprinkle each cookie with Turbinado Sugar. Gently press the sugar into each cookie. Pop back in the fridge for about 10 minutes to firm up before baking.
  • Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until slightly golden brown.
  • Remove from oven. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
  • Once completely cooled, store in airtight jar for up to 5 days. Enjoy!

Notes

Do NOT skip the dough-chilling steps, as each chill time firms up the dough into a workable texture.  If the dough becomes too warm, and softens too much during rolling/cutting, simple pop it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes to firm it back up.