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I know, I know…another cookie recipe??! It’s quite evident that my cookie jar has been overflowing this past two weeks with all the cookies I’ve been making, which includes a New York style choc chip cookie which I’ll share soon.

Sablé cookies are basically French shortbread cookies and sablé in English means sand, which you’ll completely understand when you make these cookies as the texture of the dough is sand and soil-like. Sounds strange but I promise you these cookies are one of the best you’ll ever have and are chocolate dreams with a magical texture! Have patience with these cookies as well, especially because the texture is so different, you don’t want to over-mix them as they’ll be tough, just enjoy the process and trust me it’ll all be worth while. On that note, I’m going to dig into yet another and leave you with the recipe…

Ingredients:

• 275g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 200g unsalted butter, diced (room temperature)
• 50g caster sugar
• 200g light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract OR 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 175g good quality chocolate (to your preference – i.e. dark or milk), finely chopped

Method: 

1. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb into a bowl and add the sea salt, then stir together and set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer, put the butter in the mixing bowl and beat until fluffy and light. Add the sugars and vanilla and beat together for approximately 2 minutes until smooth.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until you have a mixture that looks sandy then add the chocolate and mix to combine. The dough should then look like soil; it should not have formed into one large ball of dough. This is the key to getting the correct sable cookie texture. NB: if you mix for too long the biscuits will be tough.

4. Tip out the mixture onto a work surface and gently press together to form a uniform dough. Divide the dough into two halves and roll into two logs, 4cm thick.

5. Wrap the dough in cling-wrap and place them in the fridge, allowing to chill for 3 hours.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan oven) and line baking trays with baking paper or a silpat. Remove the dough from the fridge and using a thin, sharp knife, cut into rounds about 1cm thick. Place the cookies onto the baking trays and bake for 10–12 minutes until set around the outside but still soft in the center. If you dare, because they’ll be quite hot straight out the oven of course but I definitely recommend snatching one straight out the oven – it is a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate dream.

7. Leave the cookies to cool on the trays for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. Once cool, leave as is or decorate according to your preference. The cookies will keep for up to one week stored in an airtight container.

9. Enjoy!!!