La Cocotte Verte

— about 40 cookies

Sables are delicate French butter cookies, similar to shortbread. Their unique sandy texture and rich, buttery flavor are due to cooked egg yolk and European-style butter, which has a lower water content than American butter. Sables are quite fragile, so handle with care! Their crisp lightness pairs well with fruit, or adds a finishing touch to ices and sorbets.

*Ingredients marked in green are available from The Gourmet Corner.

Ingredients

• 1 large egg, hard boiled and cooled
• 10 Tbs (5 oz) cold Échiré unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbs granulated sugar (2 3/4 ounces)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)
• 1/2 cup almond flour (poudre d’amandes)*

Shell egg and discard white. Press yolk through fine-mesh strainer into bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment.

Add butter, granulated sugar, and salt to cooked egg yolk. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl and beater as needed. Turn mixer to low, add almond extract, and mix until incorporated. Stop mixer; add flour and almond flour and mix on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, press dough into cohesive mass.

Divide dough in half; roll each piece into log about 6 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter. Wrap each log in parchment paper or wax paper and twist ends to seal and firmly compact dough into tight cylinder. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Cook’s Truc: After the dough has been chilled, it can be wrapped in 2-3 plastic bags and frozen for up to 3 weeks. Thaw for 1/2 hour in the refrigerator before using.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats. Slice dough into ¼-inch-thick rounds, rotating dough so that it doesn’t become misshapen. Place cookies 1 inch apart.

Bake until centers of cookies are pale gold with edges slightly darker than centers, about 15 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes to allow them to firm up, then use a thin metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack to finish cooling. Store cooled cookies between sheets of parchment paper or waxed paper in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Tags: almond, cookies

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