Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, very cold and cubed
- Zest from 1 large lemon
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
Preparation of the Sablé Dough
Begin by preparing the sablé dough. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and poppy seeds.
Next, add the cold butter, sliced into cubes, to the mixture. Add the lemon juice and zest at this point. Using either your fingertips or a pastry cutter, combine the ingredients until the butter is evenly distributed throughout the flour mixture and has formed coarse, sandy crumbs with some small lumps of butter remaining.
The key is to keep the butter as cold as possible, which will eventually yield the signature sandy texture.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolk. Add the egg mixture to the flour and butter mixture and stir with a fork or your hands until a cohesive ball of dough forms.
Do not overmix the dough. Overmixing will activate the gluten and yield tough cookies.
Rolling and Chilling
Immediately after forming the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and flatten it out into a disk shape. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes before using it.
Once the dough is chilled, remove it from the refrigerator, and place it on a floured surface. Roll out the dough until you have achieved a thickness of approximately 1/4 inch.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
Cutting and Baking
Use whatever shape you desire to cut out the sablés. When finished, place each cut-out onto the prepared baking sheet with approximately one inch of space between cookies. If the dough starts to stick to your hand, you may find it helpful to use a thin spatula to lift them.
Using a fork, gently prick the tops of the cookies several times. Doing this will help to prevent them from rising too much while baking.
Place the cookies in the preheated oven for approximately 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges begin to turn a light shade of golden brown.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring each cookie onto a wire rack to cool fully. Be careful when you are handling the hot cookies as they are very tender.
Bonus Tip: Flavors will deepen and improve after 1 or 2 days when stored in an airtight container.
Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks, very cold and cubed
- Zest from 1 large lemon
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and poppy seeds in a large bowl.
- Add cold butter cubes, lemon zest, and juice. Work into flour mixture until sandy with some pea-sized butter pieces.
- Beat egg and yolk, add to mixture. Mix just until dough forms.
- Form dough into disk, wrap in plastic. Chill 30 minutes.
- Roll chilled dough on floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness.
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment.
- Cut shapes with cookie cutter, transfer to baking sheet 1-inch apart.
- Prick each cookie with fork.
- Bake 12-15 minutes until edges are light golden.
- Cool 5 minutes on sheet, then transfer to wire rack.
