Thursday, July 21, 2005

Savoury Sablés



Here's another recipe from Canapés. This was absolutely perfect to serve with some bubbly after our wedding ceremony. People loved them - I used the heart-shaped ones, and saved the star-shaped for the cold buffet. The only difference is that the heart-shaped ones have some poppy seeds on them, and for the stars, I used half roquefort cheese instead of all cheddar. (And omitted the cayenne.) The original recipe suggests gruyère cheese, but I don't like that much and opted for a sharp English cheddar instead. (And they included mustard powder - but I don't have that in my pantry so I just skipped it.)

They turned out just fine, everyone loved them and wanted loads more. They make almost a puff pastry - I suppose it's all that butter.

Savoury Sablés
Makes 60-80 depending on size (mine are small - I got about 100!)

250 g flour
175 g cold butter, diced
250 g sharp cheddar cheese or gruyère, grated
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg yolk beaten with some water

Use a food processor, and mix flour, butter, cheese and cayenne until it forms a pastry. You may need to use a little bit of cold water to get it to bind together. Roll out on a floured surface until about 0.5 cm thick. Use a cookie cutter to get the shapes you like, place on a baking sheet. Brush with a little bit of the egg yolk, and sprinkle over poppy seeds if you want to.

Bake for 10 minutes in a 180 degree warm oven. (350F). The recipe said to refrigerate the cut-out sablés before baking. I don't know about you, but my refrigerator certainly won't hold cookie sheets on most days, and decidedly not two days before a wedding. So I skipped that step, worrying like crazy that they wouldn't hold their shape.. but they came out fine.

For the roquefort variety, omit the cayenne, and use 125 g of cheddar and 125 g of roquefort. Otherwise proceed as above.

Keeps very well for a couple of days in an airtight container.

I have a few more wedding-related recipes to post - stay tuned for the creamy potato salad! It was a huuuuuge hit.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

They look lovely! I almost wish that I had a party planned so I that I would have a reason to make them :-) Or I'll just make them anyway... Hmm...

Anne said...

Dagmar - DO make them anyway! Maybe half a recipe though, it really makes a lot. But they keep fairly well, a week wouldn't be a problem. If you manage to keep them around for that long. :) I think the poppy seed ones were the best, people seemed to like those more than the roquefort ones. I liked both though. They're really flaky and buttery - it's almost like puff pastry. But SOOOO much easier!