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Receta Dorie Greenspan's Sweet and Savory Sables
by Monte Mathews

The

first time Andrew and I ever tasted a Sablé, we’d made a pilgrimage to The

Essex Market where Dorie Greenspan and her son Joshua had opened “Beurre et

Sel”, a tiny hole in the wall that sold nothing but these out-this-world

butter-y crispy shortbread cookies. The sheer beauty of the Greenspan’s

display of the cookies took us aback.

The variety was amazing too—there were sweet and savory versions. These

were all tucked into tubes to take home but I couldn’t help wonder how many of

them actually made it there. The cookies were that addictive and at about the

size of a half dollar coin easily consumed anywhere. They were also fairly expensive which may

explain why, sadly, after 15 months in business, the tiny shop was shuttered.

La Marquise de Sevigné

Sablé, which means “Sand” in French,

go all the way back to 1670 when they were first made mention of in the

Marquise de Sévigné’s “letters”. La

Marquise wrote these letters to her daughter but they were widely circulated

for their wit and vivid descriptions.

To this day she is one of the most

revered of all French writers. In one of

these letters, she wrote about the cookie that had been created in a French

village called Sablé-sur-Sarthe. In an

amazing coincidence, Sablé is the term French bakers use for breadcrumbs. As the cookie is made, the cold butter, flour

and sugar used at the start of the recipe make a texture like breadcrumbs or “sand”

before the egg is added.

Andrew waited a while before

tackling Dorie’s own recipe for Sablés and I have to say, we were both very

sorry he hadn’t made them earlier. First

he tackled a sweet version. In the sea

of Christmas cookies, he made this year, I had to contain myself from not

eating every last Sablé, this simple combination of sugar, flour, butter and

eggs their edges rolled in demerara sugar

Then after Christmas, I prevailed upon him to try the savory

version. This mixture of Rosemary,

Almonds and Parmesan were slightly smaller than their sweet cousins but their

impact was just the same. You could not

help but pop these intensely flavored ‘cocktail’ cookies in your mouth one

after the other. Fortunately the recipe

yields dozens of the quarter-size circles.

The

fundamental difference between the sweet and savory versions Andrew made was

that the sweet cookies are made into rolls that look exactly like my mother’s

Ice Box Cookies and are sliced very much the same way. Rolled in Demerara, the crunchy un-refined raw

sugar that's also called Turbinado and it’s

well worth finding some. (Ours comes from Williams-Sonoma). The savory version is not made into a

roll. Instead the dough is flattened

with a rolling pin and then a cookie cutter forms the final cookie. I can’t extoll the virtues of Sablés

enough. So next time you want to wow

your family and friends, make batches of these and watch them disappear. If you do have any leftover, they keep

incredibly well in an airtight container for several days, if not a week. Here are the recipes:

Recipe for Dorie Greenspan’s Sweet Sablés

Makes about 50 cookies. Active Time

30 minutes. Total Time 2 hours.

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter (preferably

high-fat, like Plugra), softened at room temperature

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted before measuring

1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably sea salt

2 large egg yolks, preferably at room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour.

For the decoration (optional):

1. Working in a mixer fitted with a paddle

attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until it is smooth and very creamy.

Add the sugars and salt and continue to beat until smooth and velvety, not

fluffy and airy, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2

egg yolks, again beating until well blended.

2. Turn off the mixer, pour in the flour, drape a

kitchen towel over the mixer and pulse the mixer about 5 times at low speed for

1 or 2 seconds each time. Take a peek; if there is still a lot of flour on the

surface of the dough, pulse a couple of more times; if not, remove the towel.

Continuing at low speed, stir for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour

disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. If you still

have some flour on the bottom of the bowl, stop mixing and use a rubber spatula

to work the rest of it into the dough. (The dough will not come together in a

ball -- and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible.

What you're aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy dough. When pinched, it should

feel a little like Play-Doh.)

3. Scrape the dough onto a work surface, gather it

into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9

inches long (it's easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the

plastic to help form the log). Wrap the logs well and chill them for at least 2

hours. The dough may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for

up to 2 months.

4. When ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat

or parchment paper and keep it at the ready.

cool.

2. In a bowl, rub the sugar with the rosemary until moist and

aromatic.

3. In a food processor, combine the rosemary sugar with the almonds,

flour, cheese and salt and pulse until the almonds are coarsely chopped.

4. Add

the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the egg

yolks and pulse until large clumps of dough form.

5. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead gently until it just

comes together.

6. Divide the dough in half and press each piece into a disk.

7. Roll

out each disk between 2 sheets of wax paper to about 1/4 inch thick. Slide the

wax paper–covered disks onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour,

until very firm.

8. Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 large baking sheets with

parchment paper. Working with one piece of dough at a time, peel off the top

sheet of wax paper. Using a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out cookies

as close together as possible. Arrange the cookies about 1 inch apart on the

prepared baking sheets.

9. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, until lightly golden; shift

the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Let the

cookies cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire

rack to cool completely.

MAKE

AHEAD The rolled-out

frozen cookie dough can be wrapped in plastic and kept frozen for 2 weeks. The

baked cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 days.