Vanilla Sablés

I was looking for something simple as an accompaniment when I baked Blackcurrant Bakewell so I had a go at these Vanilla Sablés from my Great British Bake Off recipe book (page 78).

“Very rich, crisp, sandy-textured biscuits, sablés are the French equivalent of shortbread.”

What you’ll need:

200g plain flour
Pinch of salt
75g icing sugar
140g unsalted butter, chilled & diced
3 medium free-range egg yolks
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Beaten egg, to glaze

What you do:

Put the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and use a food processor to combine.

Now, I don’t have a full on proper food processor but I do have a twenty-year-old hand mini blender thing and as my electric whisk died a death on me last week, beggars can’t be choosers! With a bit of perseverence it did the trick.

Add the egg yolks and vanilla and mix until it makes a firm ball.

Remove from bowl and make into a disc shape approx 2.5cm thick, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 180°c.

Lightly flour your work surface and rolling pin and roll out till approx 4mm, and cut out your dough shapes. Place them on your baking tray slightly apart.

Brush lightly with the beaten egg and prick each round with a fork. Brush again with the egg.

Lightly score the tops in a cross shape with the side of a fork. Bake for approx 11 – 15 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool to firm up. Enjoy!

 In all honesty, I was a bit disappointed with this recipe. It only asked for 3/4 tsp of vanilla, but as I like to taste it I added a little more, but even so, you couldn’t taste the vanilla. They were a bit bland. They had a nice shortbread/biscuit texture but no real definable taste.