A Storied History

• Sable cookies are said to be named after the Marquise de Sablé in Normandy in 1670 and were introduced to the court of Louis XIV, where they became a favorite. Sable cookies were further made famous by legendary 20th century baker Lionel Poilane, who served them to customers waiting in line for his bakery and dubbed them “punitions,” or little punishments, for their tortuous delights.

The Secret Is in the Ingredients

• Master French bakers use high-fat European-style butter, sea salt and plump vanilla beans in making their sable cookies, although a high-quality vanilla extract can be substituted for the beans. Most basic recipes call for using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment to blend the ingredients. The dough is then rolled into logs and chilled for a day, week or up to two months before being sliced and baked. Traditional sable cookies are round with crimped edges topped with an egg wash and sugar. These are no diet delights, coming in around 140 calories per cookie with 8 grams of fat.

Tips and Techniques

• To find the highest-grade butter in the U.S., look for AA or a score of 93 on the package. To find the best vanilla extract, look for "pure" on the label instead of imitation, which can leave a bitter taste. You can also use a combination of half confectioners' sugar and half granulated sugar to add both tenderness and body to the sables. One alternate to a mixer is to cream butter between warm fingers and to work the cookie dough like bread dough on a wooden board dusted with flour and sugar. But regardless of the technique, the dough should be handled as quickly and lightly as possible. When baking, rotate and swap baking sheet positions halfway through until cookies are brown around the edges and golden on the bottom. Always allow sables to cool so they set properly.

Not Just Plain Vanilla

• Many chocolate sable recipes abound, using a combination of cocoa and bittersweet chocolate or even chocolate and peppermint. Lemon is another favorite, using the grated zest of one to one-and-a-half lemons in the batter. Sables are often served plain, but they can also be sandwiched together with jam, chocolate ganache or lemon curd. To think even further outside the recipe box, try almond sables, Parmesan sables with finely grated Parmesan added to the beaten batter, or even savory black olive sables, perfect as hors d'oeuvres.