Chocolate Pistachio Sablés

Chocolate Pistachio Sablés RecipeNow that the hustle and bustle of the holidays is over, I finally have time to bake all the things I pushed to the side when the season’s commitments, far too often, took me out of my kitchen.  These early days of January are quieter and I finally have time to re-visit all the recipes I had ear-marked back in December. The rain began to fall today in Southern California and it made for the perfect weather to bake these chocolatey sablé cookies dotted with vibrant green  pistachios and a flourish of flaky sea salt.
Chocolate Pistachio Sablés RecipeWhat exactly is a sablé?  Well, it is a French cookie that dates back to the mid sixteen hundreds. In French, sablé translates to sand, and in a butter cookie, that is a very good thing.  The French sablé cookie is  similar to the Scottish shortbread cookie.  Whereas traditional shortbread consists of only butter, sugar, and flour, a sablé often includes baking powder/soda (but not always) and either an egg, egg yolk, or egg white in its list of ingredients.  It is to be expected that over time, as is often the case with recipes, there have been great liberties taken with both of these centuries-old cookies.
Chocolate Pistachio Sablés RecipeChocolate Pistachio Sablés RecipeThis recipe makes a lot of cookies.  Bake some now and keep a log or two in the freezer and slice and bake as needed.  (No defrosting necessary.)  Don’t skimp on the quality of cocoa you use in this recipe.  As always, I recommend using  high quality cocoa, especially in this cookie where you want the luscious taste of chocolate to shine through.  There really is a difference!
Chocolate Pistachio Sablés Recipe

 

 

Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit/December 2013

  




5 thoughts on “Chocolate Pistachio Sablés

  1. These cookies are so dramatic looking! I love the dark of the chocolate juxtaposed with the green of the pistachio nugget. I also appreciate learning the meaning of the sable. I never knew what it was. Also loving the color palette of the photos. Stunning.

  2. I have the opportunity to taste a bounteous number of cookies from Mary’s oven. This ranks as one of my all-time favorites. I particularly enjoy the delicious contrast of sumptuous, rich, chocolate flavor and the tang of sea salt. One of the best ever!

  3. Hi Mary, One day I hope you add more to your wonderful blog, but in the meantime, I am still chipping away at your recipes. I just made these and I have two questions. One, did you use black cocoa? I use it in so many of your recipes and it’s typically called out, but my cookies with just nice unsweetened cocoa are far lighter. Then, these were hard to cut and not crumble. Any advice on what to do if the cookies are a bit too crumbly to cut nicely? I am thinking perhaps I should have blended longer? But then would that be after dry addition or after egg white? That said they are divine. Another complete win.

    • Hey Donna, I hope to get back to blogging soon but until then, I’m thrilled you are still visiting my blog and trying some of my recipes. To answer your two questions, first, I rarely use black cocoa unless a recipe specifically calls for it. I primarily use Valrhona cocoa. It is such a rich, deep dark cocoa with incredible flavor. As to the problem with the cookie dough crumbling when slicing, yes, I’ve had that happen from time to time. The trick is to make sure your dough is rolled very firmly into logs. Also, sometimes the dough is too cold. Allowing the dough logs to warm a bit should make slicing easier. If you feel your dough has warmed too much, you can always pop the cookie sheets into the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes before baking. Hope that helps!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *