Around My French Table (77 page)

S
ABLÉ MEANS SANDY, AND IT DESCRIBES
the slightly crumbly texture of the French shortbread that bears its name. What it doesn't even hint at is how rich a sablé usually is—the best sablés have a no-two-ways-about-it butteriness that defines the genre as much as the texture does. In fact, without the butter, you wouldn't get the texture. Whether the sablé melts in your mouth, as this one does, or has the bit of crunch you get with a sablé Breton (see Bonne Idée,
[>]
), depends on the amounts of flour, butter, and sugar and on whether or not you add the eggs, but in the end, every card-carrying sablé has that distinctive crumbliness at its core.

This slice-and-bake sablé is a slight variation of one of Pierre Hermé's. It should be made with deep, dark cocoa powder, and to get the loveliest texture, the dough should be worked as little as possible. I've added some very finely chopped chocolate to the recipe—just enough to speckle the cookies and deepen the flavor—but it's an optional flavoring. Also optional is the sparkle edging, a crunchy white ringlet obtained by brushing the logs of dough with egg and rolling them in sugar, preferably decorating sugar, before cutting them and sending them into the oven.

Finally, I like to make these cookies thick—I slice them at ½-inch intervals—because I think you can appreciate their texture best when you've got something substantial to bite into, but you can make them thinner, of course. Do that, and they'll make fine ice cream sandwiches. (Try them with Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch.)

BE PREPARED:
You'll need to chill the dough for at least 3 hours.

Whisk the flour, cocoa, and salt together.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and smooth. Gradually add the sugar and keep beating, scraping the bowl as needed, until the mixture is creamy but not airy. (You want to be beating, not whipping.) Mix in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture in 3 additions, mixing just until the ingredients are incorporated—no more. If you're using the chopped chocolate, stir it in now, using a large rubber spatula.

Scrape the dough onto a cutting board and divide it in half. Roll each piece into a log that's about 1¾ inches in diameter. (Rolled to this diameter, the baked cookies will be about 2½ inches across. If you'd prefer larger or smaller cookies, shape the logs accordingly.) Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours.
(The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.)

When you're ready to bake, position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

If you want to sugar-crust the cookies, beat the egg in a small bowl. Put some decorating sugar on a piece of wax paper. Brush the logs with the beaten egg and then roll them around in the sugar, pressing the sugar gently to get it to stick evenly.

Slice the logs into ½-inch-thick cookies. (If you'd like thinner cookies, cut them ⅓ inch thick. You can cut them a hair thinner, but those won't hold up for ice cream sandwiches. If you do make thinner cookies, make sure to reduce the baking time.) Arrange the cookies on the baking sheets, leaving a generous inch of space between the rounds.

Bake the cookies for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until the cookies are just firm to the touch. Transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature.

If you've got any dough left over, slice and bake it, making sure your baking sheets are cool first.

MAKES ABOUT 36 COOKIES

SERVING
These cookies can be served alone, with tea, or, better still, with espresso or milk, but they're also nice spread with jam or ice cream.

STORING
The logs of dough, without the egg wash and sugar, can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months. You can slice and bake the cookies straight from the freezer; just add a minute or two to the baking time.

BONNE IDÉE
Classic Butter Sablés.
These are made with a mixture of confectioners' and granulated sugar, but the method of mixing, shaping, and sugaring the logs is the same as that for the chocolate cookies. Beat 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature, together with ½ cup sugar, ¼ cup confectioners' sugar, sifted, and ½ teaspoon salt until the mixture is creamy but not airy. One by one, with the mixer on low speed, beat in 2 large egg yolks. Keeping the mixer on its lowest speed, blend in 2 cups all-purpose flour, mixing only until the flour disappears into the soft dough. Divide the dough in half, shape into logs about 9 inches long, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 3 hours or freeze. When you're ready to bake, brush the logs with a beaten egg and roll in sugar, if you'd like. Cut the dough into ½-inch-thick rounds and bake on baking sheets lined with silicone baking mats or parchment in a 350-degree-F oven for 17 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are just golden around the edges but still pale on top.

T
UILES ARE AMONG THE PRETTIEST COOKIES
in the French repertoire. Named for the curved clay roof tiles of Provençal farmhouses, they're lacy, fragile, light, and, as their name suggests, curved. They look complicated but are in fact easy to make, since the batter spreads and rounds on its own in the oven and then all you have to do to get the beautiful curved shape is to lay the cookies over a rolling pin to cool—or you can just leave them flat.

There are many recipes for tuiles, but this one has a special place in my heart because it came to me unexpectedly. My husband, friends, and I were having dinner at La Robe et le Palais, a small bistro near Paris's Palais de Justice, where we chose crème brûlée for dessert. Because it had a little twist, I asked our waiter if he could possibly get the chef to tell him how he made it. Instead of returning with a description, the waiter returned with the chef, Yannis Théodore, who was delighted to share his secret (the recipe is on
[>]
). "And the tuiles that accompanied the crème brûlée, did we want to know about them too?" he asked. They were made with chopped almonds, and they had a slight tang, in part a product of the sugar in the dough having caramelized, but there was something else, not as easily discernible. "Orange juice!" exclaimed the chef. And then he dashed away and quickly returned with a little plastic container filled with the dough for his tuiles. He handed me the tub, wrote the recipe on a small scrap of paper, and said, "I hope you'll enjoy these at home," and off he went. The gesture was sweet, generous, and spontaneous, and the tuiles were wonderful. I made a batch with his dough the following day and have been using his recipe to make batch after batch ever since.

BE PREPARED:
The dough really needs an overnight rest before baking, so plan accordingly.

Whisk the sugar, flour, and almonds together in a small bowl. Stir in the orange juice. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the dough and chill it overnight.
(The dough can be refrigerated, well covered,for up to 3 days.)

When you're ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Have one or two baking sheets at the ready; you don't need to line or butter the sheets. If you'd like to curve the tuiles, set a rolling pin (or an empty wine bottle) on the counter.

For each tuile, scoop out 1 teaspoonful of dough and roll it lightly between your palms into a ball. Arrange on the baking sheet(s), leaving 2 inches of spread space between the balls of dough.

Bake the tuiles, one sheet at a time, for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midway mark. When done, the dough, which will have bubbled, will have calmed down, spread into pretty rounds, and become golden and honeycombed. Pull the sheet from the oven and let the cookies rest for a few seconds, then, using a wide metal spatula, lift the cookies from the sheet: the best way to do this is to carefully work the spatula under a cookie edge, then push the spatula beneath the cookie with a quick jerk. If the cookie crumples a bit, as it might, don't worry—it will straighten out on the rolling pin (or the cooling rack if you're not curving the cookies). Moving quickly, place the cookies over the rolling pin to curve them. Transfer the cookies to a flat surface after they have set—they set in under a minute. If the cookies cool and stick stubbornly to the baking sheet, slide the sheet into the oven for another minute to warm the cookies, then remove them. If you want flat cookies, just cool them on a rack.

If you are using the same baking sheet to make another batch of cookies, make certain it is clean and cool before spooning on the dough.

MAKES ABOUT 36 TUILES

SERVING
Thin, fragile tuiles are naturally elegant and so should be served either as the sole sweet (the better to appreciate their loveliness), with tea or coffee, or alongside something as creamy as they are crisp. They're perfect with ice cream, chocolate mousse (
[>]
), and crème brûlée (
[>]
).

STORING
Humidity is the great enemy of tuiles—just the least bit of moisture will cause them to soften and wilt—but if your kitchen is cool and dry, you can keep the cookies overnight (maybe even a bit longer). Put them on a lined baking sheet—there's no need to cover them—or keep them in a tin. They can't be frozen, but because you can keep the dough in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, you can make as many tuiles as you want whenever you need them.

S
PECULOOS ARE CRISP BROWN-SUGAR COOKIES
that can be big or small (I make them very small), thin or thick (mine are medium-thin), and spicy or spicier (I lean toward spicier). In general, the predominant spice is cinnamon—indeed, some recipes I've seen use cinnamon alone—but a little ginger and a pinch of cloves make the cookies slightly more complex.

As far as I know, there's no law against eating speculoos in March or June or even September, but no matter when you have them, their smell will hint of Christmas and their flavor will just about exclaim it. In fact, in their native Belgium, they are the cookie that celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, the man we know as Father Christmas, or Santa Claus.

These cookies keep really well, making them perfect to pack up in tins and give as Christmas presents.

BE PREPARED:
The rolled-out dough needs to be chilled for at least 3 hours.

Whisk the flour, salt, baking soda, and spices together in a bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the sugars and beat until well blended, about 2 minutes. Beat in the egg. With the mixer on the lowest speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until the flour disappears into the soft dough. You may have some flour at the bottom of the bowl, or the dough may not be entirely smooth, but that's normal. Using your hands (always my first choice) or a spatula, reach into the bowl and knead or stir the dough 2 or 3 times, just enough to eliminate any dry spots.

Divide the dough in half. (The dough is very soft, even after you refrigerate it for several hours, so if your kitchen is hot, you might want to divide the dough into thirds—that way it won't take you as long to cut out the cookies and the dough won't soften as much.) Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, roll the dough between two sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap until you have a circle that's a scant ¼ inch thick. As you're rolling, turn the dough over a couple of times and pull away the paper or plastic, so you don't end up rolling creases into the dough. Put the rolled-out rounds of dough on a tray or cutting board and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
(The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen, well wrapped, for up to 2 months.)