Holiday Baking: Sables

Sables: The Beautiful Gift from France

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted Darigold butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably fine sea salt

2 large egg yolks at room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

Decorating sugar

Makes about 50 cookies
Beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and very creamy.

Add the sugars and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 of the egg yolks.

Turn off the mixer. Slowly, pour in the flour and mix at a low speed. Scrap down the bowl.

Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. You want to work the dough as little as possible.

Scrape the dough out onto a smooth work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, preferably longer.

When you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Take the dough out and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies. The Sables are great plain, but if you want to have sugar on the edge, roll the cookie rounds in sugar at this time, before baking.

Place the rounds on parchment lined baking sheets, leaving an inch of space between them.
Bake for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the midway point.

Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest a minute or two before carefully lifting them onto a rack with a wide metal spatula to cool to room temperature.