Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Cardamom sablés

If you love cardamom and butter, this is the cookie for you. I made a batch of these for a friend's birthday and mailed them off, and they arrived safe, sound and delicious. These are a buttery shortbread style cookie, and the variations are endless. This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours, and I first made it last Christmas, just before I joined the Tuesdays with Dorie group. This week is a rewind week, where instead of all of us making one recipe, we choose one we missed or would like to revisit. So, if you want to see a variety of recipes, click your way over to the TWD site

Sablés
Makes about 50
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature, plus 1 large egg yolk, for brushing the logs
2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cardamom, preferably freshly ground
coarse sugar (I used raw sugar)



You can use a hand or stand mixer for this, or make them by hand. I made them by hand this time. Using a wooden spoon, beat the butter until smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars, cardamom and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. The mixture should be smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy. Beat in 2 of the egg yolks, again beating until the mixture is homogeneous.
Add the flour, and mix gently to combine, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. The dough will not clean the sides of the bowl, nor will it 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 (rather than smooth) dough. Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.

Scrape the dough out onto a smooth 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 refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, preferably longer. (The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months).

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Remove a log of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Whisk the remaining egg yolk until it is smooth, and brush some of the yolk all over the sides of the dough -- this is the glue -- then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with decorating sugar.
Trim the ends of the roll if they're ragged, and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies. (You can make these as thick as 1/2 inch or as thin as -- but no thinner than -- 1/4 inch.) Place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving an inch of space between them.
Bake one sheet at a time for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the midway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top; they may feel tender when you touch the top gently, and that's fine. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest a minute or two before carefully lifting them onto a rack with a wide metal spatula to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remaining log of dough, making sure the baking sheets are cool before you bake the second batch.
These keep well in a tin for about 5 days or so, and can even be frozen if you haven't sugared the edges.

16 comments:

Valerie Gamine said...

I opted for the lemon version of these sablés last year, but I may have to try the cardamom!

Beautiful photo, Mary. It could easily be used in Dorie's book. :)

cocoa and coconut said...

Sounds like a wonderful recipe. I can imagine how well it would taste with a cup of tea...and perhaps a good book!

Bella Baker said...

I love Dorie's sables!! I could eat 20 at a time! :) Yours look perfect!

Evelyne@CheapEthnicEatz said...

I love cardamome, these could become the next 'almond cookie of chinese restaurants' for indian restaurants.

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Yum! I love cardamom, so I'm excited for the crumb cake in December. Will definitely have to try these soon! :)

Hindy said...

What an outstanding photo! These cookies are a cardamom lovers dream.

Tia said...

ive never baked with cardamom before. your cookies look wonderful!

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

mmm love sables. :) Fun rewind!

Cakelaw said...

I like the cardamom idea - I made them plain when they came around for TWD - very good that way too, but the cardamom takes them up a notch.

Unknown said...

I remember these! I made a snickerdoodle version and we LOVED it. I love the flavor of cardamom! Your sables are stunning!

Anonymous said...

Mmm...I've always wanted to try a recipe with cardamom.

Anonymous said...

They look lovely! I've made a similar recipe for cardamom cookies, and it's one of my favorites.

Laurie {Simply Scratch} said...

MMM cardamom! These look buttery and delicious. I really love a simple cookie dough and I love that you used raw sugar around the edges... I want these for breakfast Mary!

TeaLady said...

mmmmMMM!!Cardamom!! One of my favorite spices. I bet these were good. They look just perfect!!

A Canadian Foodie said...

I have the book. I adore sables - they are so very delicate. And cardamom. YUMMMMM. The photograph is gorgeous, Mary. I am completely enamoured with all of your work and so very pleased that I get to spend a moment or two with you a few times a week.
:)
Valerie

Elaine said...

These look wonderful, Mary! I made sables for the first time last year at Christmas and everyone loved them. I will have to try the cardamom.