Chocolate Pistachio Sablés
Now 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.
What 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.
This 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
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups (lightly packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg white
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup unsalted, shelled raw pistachios, chopped
Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda.
Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until smooth. Add the brown sugar and vanilla, increase speed to medium-high, and beat until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and gradually add dry ingredients. Mix just until combined. Add the egg white and beat to incorporate. Fold in chocolate and pistachios.
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into an 8-inch long log about 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Wrap tightly in parchment paper and chill until firm, at least 4 hours and up to 1 month. Here is a link to instructions on the best way to roll Slice and Bake cookies. (If you use this process for rolling your logs of dough, you might have to push the dough together and give it a few firm rolls before wrapping it in parchment paper.)
Place racks in lower and upper thirds of oven; preheat to 350˚. Working with 1 log of dough at a time and using a serrated knife, cut logs into 1/4-inch rounds and transfer to 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1/2-inch apart.
Sprinkle cookies with sea salt and bake, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until set around edges and centers look dry, 10-12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks and let cool.
Makes approximately 96 cookies.
Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit/December 2013
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.
I couldn’t agree more, always use the best chocolate! We are a cookie loving house and my Mr would inhale these pistachio studded sables, sublime.
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!
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!