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
Make the Sablé Dough
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, and poppy seeds.
Add the cold, cubed butter, along with the lemon zest and juice. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse, sandy crumbs with some pea-sized pieces of butter still visible.
It’s important that the butter stays as cold as possible to achieve the signature sandy texture.
In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg and egg yolk. Add this to the flour and butter mixture. Mix with a fork or your hands just until a cohesive dough ball forms.
Do not overmix the dough. Overworking it will develop the gluten and result in tough cookies instead of tender ones.
Chill and Roll the Dough
Wrap the dough ball in plastic film and flatten it into a disk. Chill it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Once chilled, unwrap the dough and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to a uniform thickness of about 1/4-inch.
Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Cut and Bake the Cookies
Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut out the sablés and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet, leaving about an inch of space between each one. If the dough becomes sticky, a thin spatula can help lift the cookies.
Gently poke each cookie a few times with a fork. This helps prevent them from puffing up too much during baking.
Bake for ~12-15 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to turn a light golden brown.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for ~5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. They are quite delicate when hot.
Tip: The flavor of these cookies actually improves after a day or two in an airtight container as the flavors meld together.
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.
