French Salted Butter Cookies (Sablé Breton)
If there's one dessert or sweet that makes me feel most at home in Brittany it's the little French salted butter cookies, the Sablé Breton. They are always included in our first grocery shop that we do when making our way to our village home in Côtes d'Armor after arriving in France from Australia.
With their delicate thin serrated shape and hint of salt, the Sablé Breton makes me think of the wild, but beautiful sea that borders the coastline of Brittany. This is because the biscuits are made with sea salt from our region, the famous Fleur de Sel salt.
Fleur de Sel
French Fleur de Sel is collected off the coast of Brittany and sold around the world for its prized subtle flavour. The largest production and collection of the salt is from the towns of Guérande (called Fleur de Sel de Guérande), Noirmoutier, and Île de Ré.
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Breton Butter
Beurre Salé (salted butter) is crunchy butter because of the added Fleur de Sel, and it's consumed a lot in Brittany
I love the crunch and flavour Fleur de Sel adds to butter and even put the salted butter on my toast with jam or Vegemite. My family however prefer beurre doux, or unsalted butter, on their toast so we keep both in the kitchen.
For this recipe use either Breton salted butter with Fleur de Sel or good quality European unsalted butter, and add the Fleur de Sel as a separate ingredient. If you can't find Fleur de Sel substitute a good quality sea salt. Ingredient variations are noted below.
I keep a tin of Fleur de Sel in my kitchen always (photo below) and enjoy a Sablé Breton or two with a cup of tea in the afternoons (photo below).
French Salted Butter Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
250g Breton salted butter, or unsalted butter with 1 1/2 tsp of sea salt flakes (preferably Fleur de Sel), at room temperature
500g Flour (all purpose)
250g Sugar (white)
3 Eggs
Equipment: If you want to make authentic Sablé Breton cookies then you'll need a 5cm round scalloped cookie cutter. However, you can use any round cookie cutter, or even a small drinking glass for the shape.
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180° C.
2. Line baking trays with baking paper.
3. Combine the butter, salt if using as a separate ingredient (see above) and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir in the 3 whole eggs until just combined.
4. Sift the flour over the mixture. Combine with a spatula until it all comes together into a soft ball. As soon as combined - don't over do it or your cookies will be tough - wrap the dough in plastic film and chill for an hour.
5. On a floured board, or between two sheets of cooking paper, roll the dough until it is 0.5cm thick. Using a 5cm scalloped cookie cutter cut out circles of dough. Using a fork make a criss-cross pattern over the dough circles if you wish, then place dough circles on your baking tray.
6. Bake for 15 minutes then check. The cookies will firm as they cool, so slightly softer centres are okay at this stage. If the cookies are sufficiently baked but slightly soft in the centre, you can remove them from oven. If not, bake for a further 5 minutes (checking regularly). Transfer cooked sablés straight away to a cooling rack.
The butter cookies will keep for several days in an air-tight container and are a simple addition to afternoon tea, late night snacks or when the children come home from school.
Nothing makes me think of Brittany more than these thin, crispy Sablé Bretons that are so often packaged in delightful tins with scenes of lighthouses, sailors, fishing boats, and colourful Breton cottages. Bring a little of Brittany into your kitchen with these French butter cookies.
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