TWD: Sables

When I first started reading though Baking, one of the things I immediately enjoyed about it was that in addition to the fancy desserts, it is packed with simple but special recipes, which you can make from basic pantry staples. One that immediately caught my eye was the Sable recipe, which was described as a French shortbread (sounds so much more enticing than “butter cookie”) and is accompanied by a gorgeous photo. Anyway, it was one of the very first recipes I made from “the book” and I was happy to make it again when it was selected for Tuesdays With Dorie this week. Dorie offers a number of different flavor combinations in the “playing around” section of the recipe, and since I had made the basic cookie recipe the first time around, I was tempted to try one of the citrus or spice versions. Josh voted for plain butter, though, and I count on him to consume the larger percent of baked goods in this household, so I went with that one.



And yum! I’d forgotten what fantastic cookies they are; they are sturdier than a traditional shortbread, which coincidentally, I made a batch of for Secret Baker this weekend, and delightfully buttery. It has gotten quite cold (for California) this week and I really didn’t feel like running tonight; I just wanted to sit inside and eat these cookies – they’re that good. This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 4. Many thanks to Barbara of Bungalow Barbara for a great selection. You can find the recipe here on Barbara’s site, as well as lots of lovely cakes and great information about baking. And stop by the TWD blogroll to see what other variations people made.



Here is a photo the shortbread I made for Secret Baker. The recipe can be found here on the Cook’s Illustrated site. I sampled one for quality control and they’re really good too!