Dorie Greenspan posted a recipe for raspberry and rose sablés in her Times magazine column [1] recently. They are absolute perfection and you should make them tout de suite.
But then you should also spend some time LOL’ing about the people who comment on New York Times recipes. This round many of the comments center around people being exasperated that they are not familiar with some of the ingredients. Whenever I don’t know about something, I definitely lash out at people who do. Of course!
Luckily, a hero arrives to say:
To other readers: clearly you go online to post a question here. Why not just google terms like “sanding sugar, ” ” dried raspberries,” “rose extract.” You can get an immediate answer!
DUH.
Although props to the person who retorted: Because we crave human contact.
But seriously, these comments:
Why spend the money on fleur de sel if you’re going to blend it into the dough?
Huh? Why spend money on anything? Fuck capitalism!
It’s unfortunate that recipes like this have ingredients that are not easily found or available. Rose Extract?? Freeze dried raspberries?
“recipes like this”
I bought a 2-oz bottle of rose extract and used 1/2 teaspoon in making these cookies. Now, what will I do with the rest of it?
Let’s all work together to account for how he will use the remaining 11 1/2 teaspoons!
I’m a little disappointed, I thought Pierre Herme’s Ispahan was rose, raspberry and lychee but the recipe doesn’t include lychee. I was really curious to see how it incorporated that flavor element in the sable but I guess it can’t be done.
LOL, way to jump to a hopeless conclusion, reader.
Sadly, it was an incredible letdown. Unlike her French Vanilla Sables in “Cookies,” this recipe has no egg yolks, and less butter. They were so dry and crumbly it was impossible to make the logs tight, and the cookies didn’t look at all like hers. I’m wondering if this was a typo, because her classic sables have egg yolk, and a larger amount of butter.. I was really disappointed.
: (
Never change, dummies. Love you all.
Pierre Hermé’s Ispahan Sablés (recipe by Dorie Greenspan for the NYTimes [2])
Sugar:
- 1/4 cup sanding sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon pure rose extract
- a drop or two of red food coloring
Sablés:
- 1/2 cup freeze-dried raspberries
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 11 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure rose extract
- 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or other flake salt
To make the decorative sugar, place the three ingredients in a ziplock bag and toss until the sugar in evenly pink.
To make the sablés, crush the raspberries between two sheets of waxed paper or in a large ziplock bag until you have mostly powder with some smaller pieces. Don’t worry too much about perfection. Combine the raspberries and flour and in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter for a minute or two until smooth and creamy (not fluffy). Add the sugar, rose extract, and salt, and beat for 2-3 minutes more. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour mixture all at once. Mix on low until dough starts to come together and clear the sides of the bowl. Give the dough a turn or two with a spatula to bring it together and then divide into 4 pieces and roll each into a 6-8-inch log.
Roll each log in the prepared sugar until evenly coated and then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 3 days.
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325°F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment. Unwrap the logs, and trim the ends if they are ragged. Slice each log into 1/2 slices and arrange at least 1 1/inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 18-21 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking. The cookies are done when the they are firm along the edges and the bottoms are golden brown.
Notes: Please do not ask me if rose water can be used in place of the rose extract, see NYTimes comments. This is covered, ad nauseam. My dough logs were more like 6-inches long and cut into slices shy of 1/2-inch. You can do what you want. But watch timing if your size varies. Like Dorie, I used Star Kay White rose extract.