Mini sable cookies
These Mini Sablé Butter Cookies are everything I love about classic European shortbread—crisp, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious. This recipe features three flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate, and Strawberry, all made with rich butter, fine cake flour, and delicate sugar coatings. Whether you’re building a bakery box, prepping for a market, or just baking something beautiful at home, these colorful cookies deliver elegance in every bite. They’re simple to make, freeze beautifully, and look stunning stacked together for a Neapolitan-inspired presentation.
Notes & Tips
Butter Matters: For best flavor and richness, I use Kerrygold unsalted butter. It adds a noticeable boost in creaminess and depth that standard butter can’t match.
Extracts and Emulsions: These cookies are beautifully adaptable. Try butter vanilla emulsion in the vanilla base, strawberry emulsion in the pink dough, or add a touch of almond extract to deepen the profile of any of the flavors. Keep vanilla paste or extract as your base and layer other emulsions for more complex results.
Sugar Coating: Rolling the dough logs in sugar not only enhances texture and sweetness, but gives them that sparkling bakery finish. Brown sugar works especially well with chocolate, and pink-tinted sugar enhances visual contrast in the strawberry batch.
Dough Handling: For clean edges and consistent shape, use a sharp non-serrated knife to slice the chilled dough. If dough softens too much during slicing, place it back in the freezer for 5–10 minutes.
Coloring: To achieve the vibrant Neapolitan look, don’t be afraid to lightly tint the strawberry dough with gel food coloring—even if you’re using freeze-dried fruit—for a bold, bakery-style finish.
Texture Customization: For crunchier cookies, bake closer to 20 minutes. If you want them to stay soft and tender in the center, bake just until the edges are set.
The instructions are for convection ovens. If you're baking in a conventional (non-convection) oven, you may need to increase the temperature slightly or extend the baking time just a bit to get that same golden finish. Bake at 335°F (170°C) for 16–20 minutes, or until the edges just begin to turn lightly golden. Every oven bakes a little differently, so don’t be afraid to test a few cookies first.
Tip: If your oven tends to run cool or unevenly, bake one tray at a time in the center rack for the most consistent results.
Mini Sable Cookies
Ingredients
- 113g unsalted butter, softened (1/2 cup)
- 100g granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
- 228g cake flour (2 cups)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- Extra granulated sugar for rolling
- 113g unsalted butter, softened
- 100g granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 190g cake flour (1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp)
- 30g unsweetened cocoa powder (1/4 cup)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- Roll in brown sugar
- 113g unsalted butter, softened
- 100g granulated sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 200g cake flour (1 3/4 cups)
- 28g freeze-dried strawberries, finely ground (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp fine salt
- Roll in pink sugar (white sugar massaged with a few drops of red or pink coloring gel). Optionally, color the dough slightly with pink gel.
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar on medium speed for about 90 seconds, or until light and fluffy. This incorporates air for a lighter, more delicate crumb.
- Beat in egg yolks one at a time, mixing for about 60 seconds after each addition. Add vanilla and mix just until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture with a rubber spatula until no dry spots remain. Do not overmix.
- Divide dough in half and roll each half into a 15-inch log (1-inch diameter). Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes, or until firm.
- Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Remove the dough from the freezer and brush each log with egg white. Roll in sugar of choice (granulated, brown, or colored sugar). Slice into 1/2-inch thick rounds—about 60 cookies per batch.
- Place cookies on a parchment-lined sheet with space between each one. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden. For a softer texture, bake slightly less.
- Tip: Bake a test batch of a few cookies to find your preferred baking time and texture.
- Let cookies cool on the baking tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
