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In the end, I made both kinds of cookies featured in that New York Times article (hoping this is a more permanent link), and really, I can't decide at all which I like better. The plain ones are addictive because they're a little saltier, a little crunchier, a little less obvious. The chocolate ones are addictive because it's so hard to find a good chocolate cookie, and these are certainly that: not boring, dark and cardboardy like an Oreo or Necco wafer; not squashy and too sweet like a brownie masquerading as a cookie. Both are an impressive balance of avoiding both insipidness and pretentiousness. And yet French! Amazing!

And in the end, they're just extra good icebox cookies, which means that they're convenient, too. You can make a batch and pop it into the freezer for up to a month if you want, and slice off some fraction for baking up whenever you feel like it. And if you go so far as to make both kinds and do that, then you'll really look fancy. So anyway, I'm not ready to give up these recipes any time soon, and want to be sure to preserve them. I get anxious about the New York Times, you know. The recipe lists, therefore, are below. For future reference: Mix them up by creaming the butter (but not overcreaming), adding the sugar and salt, then mixing in the dry ingredients as quickly as possible. The dough, especially with the chocolate cookies, will be alarmingly crumbly, but perservere. Knead and pat and roll each half-batch into a tube about one and a half or two inches in diameter. Once they've been chilled, cut into slices. I like them cut about 1/4" thick myself, which I baked at 350° F for about 17 minutes for the plain and 13 for the chocolate.

CHOCOLATE SABLES
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick and 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chip-size bits.

(I added an egg yolk, too, along with the butter and sugar.)

PLAIN SABLES
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter (preferably high-fat, like Plugra), softened at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
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 decoration:
1 egg yolk
"Dazzle" sugar or demerara
Sea salt
(Sugar and salt in a ration of about 6:1)

Posted by redfox at December 19, 2004 12:56 AM (recipes) | Comments (1)

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