French Butter Cookies Recipe

4.82 from 11 votes

Classic French Butter Cookies (Sablé Breton Cookies), are made with salted butter making the sweet/salty combination irresistible in this short, crumbly cookie. They'll be a family favourite in no time.

Prep Time20

Cook Time15

Chill Time30

Total Time1 5

Course: Cookies

Cuisine: French

Servings: cookies

Calories: 151kcal

Author: Emma Duckworth

Equipment

Stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment
Rolling Pin
Baking Tray

Ingredients

170 g salted butter preferable European-style butter
100g caster sugar
3 large egg yolks, plus 1 extra egg yolk for egg wash
340 g plain flour (all-purpose)
1 teaspoon flaked sea salt or 'fleur de sel'
1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Cream butter and sugar together. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or an electric hand-held mixer), beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until pale and creamy.
Incorporate egg yolks. Add in the egg yolks and mix for until well combined, about a minute.
Add flour and salt to form a dough. Sift the flour into the mixing bowling add in the salt. Mix on low speed until just incorporated and the dough starts to clump. Use your hands to bring the dough together by gently squeezing it together.
Refrigerate dough. Form dough into a rough disc and wrap well in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on how soft and sticky the dough is to start off with.
Roll out disc. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F) Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until the dough is 6mm (¼ inch) thickness.
Stamp out cookies and mark. Peel off the top layer of parchment paper and stamp out cookie rounds using a fluted or plain 6cm (2 ¼ inch) cookie cutter. Use an offset spatular to help lift the cookies off the parchment paper and transfer them to parchment paper lined cookie trays.
Using the tines of a fork, a skewer or edge of a cutlery handle, mark cross hatch lines on the top of each cookie.
Note: if you live in a warm environment and the dough has softened, then refrigerate the stamped out cookies on the baking tray for 20-30 minutes, or freeze the tray for 15 minutes for the dough to firm up before egg washing. The cookie dough should not be soft when going into the oven.
Gather the scrapes together and re-roll and stamp out extra cookies.
Brush tops with egg wash. Whisk together the remaining egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of water and brush the tops of the cookies with egg wash, making sure not to drip down the sides.
Let the cookies sit for fives minutes for the egg wash to dry, then repeat brushing the tops with a second coating of egg wash.
Bake. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, until the tops turn golden brown and the edges of the cookies are lightly golden.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes

Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.

Notes on butter: If you don't have salted butter, then substitute for European-style unsalted butter and add 1 extra scant teaspoon of flaked sea salt or fleur de sel into the cookie dough.

To store: The sable biscuits are best stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

To freeze: Freeze the unbaked dough for up to 3 months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator. Follow instructions as per the recipe.

Flash freeze the cut-out cookies on a lined baking tray. Do not egg-wash them before freezing. Once frozen, add them to a ziplock bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw then, egg wash the tops and bake, adding on a couple of extra minutes to the bake time.

TIP 1: Chill the dough. Once the dough is made, the butter in the cookies needs to firm up.

TIP 2: Chill the cutout cookies before baking if your kitchen is warm and the dough has softened before baking.

Tip 3: Keep an eye on the baking time. This will depend on the thickness of the cookies or the size of your cutouts.

Nutrition