Chocolate Sablés—With Pictorials

I’m calling all chocolate lovers out there: This is a recipe you want need to try!  Yes, these chocolate sablés are that good.  I can probably end my ramblings and end this post here at the very first paragraph and move on to the recipe!  hahaha….but I’m afraid you’re going to miss me and my little stories too much.  So, I’ll continue on.    Don’t you want to hear my descriptions on how good these tasted?  I'd bet that you do.



Plus, I have the pictorials for you on this recipe, still, allow me to better explain a little bit.  I used a Wilton 1M Swirl /Star tip and a piping bag to pipe out the dough for these little cookies.  I piped some in a simple round drop of dough, as shown in the picture below; and some in an “8” or “infinity” shape, as shown from the picture above.  I really love the round ones as they are perfect one (or two) bitters.  At the same time, they are extremely dangerous because I’ve found myself popping them one by one into my mouth and I've lost count on how many I've consumed.  My original idea was to make these one bitters for “portion control”.  So, go figured.



Let’s move on to the pictorial, shall we? 

1) In a medium mixing bowl, add flour and cocoa powder
2) Whisk until well combined
3) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter, powdered sugar and salt on low speed.  Then, turn to medium high speed and beat until light and fluffy.  (Start with low speed so you don’t cover yourself and the kitchen with powdered sugar!)
4) Add the coffee mixture
5) and egg white; and beat until well incorporated
6) Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.



Are you still with me?    Just checking….

7) Turn mixer on low and slowly add in the dry ingredients
8) Mix until just combined.
9) Here’s the 1M pastry tip
10) Transfer the dough to the prepared pastry bag.
11) You can simple pipe an 1-inch rounds, 1-inch apart
12) Or, pipe dough with the “infinity” shape (like a horizontal 8) 1 by 2-inch size. Top with a piece of chocolate chip in the middle of each dough and they are ready to go into the oven.




Here’s a closer look on how to pipe the infinity shape (see picture below) .  Technically, it’s more of an “open ended lay down 8 shape”.    hahaha…I think I’ve lost a few more of you with my "technical description".  I'm glad a picture is worth a thousand words...so, please take a look at the picture instead.



As noted in the recipe below, I used Kerrygold’s butter and Valrhona’s cocoa powder in this recipe.  I can never stress it enough that great quality ingredients really make a big difference on the end products.  These Chocolate Sablés are chocolate-y, crumbly and have the texture between a short bread cookie and a butter cookie.  I love the fact that these cookies got the right amount of sweetness (as you might already know I don’t like desserts that are overly sweet) so that the chocolate flavor shines through.   They also packaged well.  So, feel free to mark this recipe down and have it ready when you need some baked goods for gift-giving, pot luck, picnic, or simply share with good friends.
 





Chocolate Sablés (Printable Recipe)
Makes 48+ cookies, depending on the size

2 cups all purpose flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used Valrhona’s)
2 1/2 sticks (10oz) unsalted butter, room temperature (I used Kerrygold’s)
1 cup powdered sugar
a pinch of kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granulate, dissolved in 1 teaspoon of hot water
4 tablespoons lightly beaten egg whites (from around 2 extra large eggs)
around 1/2 cup chocolate chips (topping the cookies and some to snack on)


Preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Line baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper, set aside.

In a tall plastic mug, prepare a pastry bag, fitted with a large swirl/star tip (I used Wilton 1M), set aside.  In a mixing bowl, whisk flour and cocoa powder together, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater (or use a large mixing bowl with a hand held mixer), on low speed, beat the butter, powdered sugar and salt.  When ingredients are well mixed, turn mixer to medium high speed and beat until light and fluffy.  (Start with low speed so you don’t cover yourself and the kitchen with powdered sugar!)

Then, add the coffee mixture and egg white and beat until well incorporated.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. 

Turn mixer on low and slowly add in the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.  Transfer the dough to the prepared pastry bag.

Pipe dough onto prepared baking sheet.  You can simply pipe an 1-inch rounds, 1-inch apart.  Or, pipe dough with the “infinity” shape (like a horizontal 8) 1 by 2-inch size.  Top with a piece of chocolate chip in the middle of each piped dough.

Bake 1-inch rounds for 10 minutes and 1 by 2-inch “8” shapes for 12 minutes.  Cool cookies on baking sheet over wire rack until warm to handle.  Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.  Store in air tight containers.

Note: Since the bake time is different with different size/shape of the cookies, I recommend that you pipe the same size/shape on each cookies sheet so they all baked off evenly.