Monday 13 June 2011

Sable Viennois by Pierre Herme

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One of my favourite things to do of late is to walk around the food halls of Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Selfridges and generally gawk at all the glamorous food they have to offer. Everything is just so expensive, so gawking is all I do and maybe once in a while relish the occasional Laduree macaron.  I was in Selfridges the other day and came across the Pierre Herme section in their food hall. The macarons and pastries and all things French were so pretty that I actually spent a good 10 minutes taking it all in. These tiny biscuits were packaged well and I had half a mind to pick it up, but again, the price almost made me blind and so I chucked the idea, mentally making a note to do a search online and make it myself.
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Days passed and I completely forgot about it, and that's when the lovely Shirley of Kokken 69 blogged about a similar looking biscuit on her blog. Didn't think twice and so set about making a batch. I must say they are the easiest biscuits to make and are so delicate and pretty, I didn't even want to eat them, but just go on clicking pictures.
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Recipe adapted from here
Salted butter- 95 gms (at room temp.)
Table/ sea salt- 2 gms
Powdered sugar- 40 gms
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Egg white- 30 gms
Plain flour- 125 gms
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In a mixing bowl cream together the butter, salt and sugar till smooth. You can use a wire whisk, no need for a mixer.
Add the egg white and whisk to combine well. Like Shirley says, the mix may look a bit curdled, but its fine, really!
Whisk in the vanilla extract and then fold in the flour making sure you have a smooth, lump free dough an the end.
Scoop the batter into a piping bag fit with the nozzle of your choice and pipe away on to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Make circles or any shape you prefer. Not a concern, they are gonna be awesome whichever shape  :)
Bake in an oven pre-heated at 180C for about 10 to 12 minutes or lightly brown. Please don't keep it longer than that.
Notes: The original recipe calls for Fleur de Sel, but obviously I didn't have it and so added some extra sea salt which did give out a nice salty taste, but if you have fds use that instead.
I accidentally ended up with 30gms of egg white when the original said 15 gms. I don think it made a difference though..to me at least!

34 comments:

Rose /Magpie said...

So funny I had bookmarked the recipe from Shirley's blog too! Will try the chocolate one soon:)Yours came out so beautifully!

Nithya said...

Absolutely pretty looking cookies :) Would like to put them into my fingers like rings and eat them all like a kid :)

Gayathri Ramdas Sreekanth said...

So pretty & delicate..looks like the butter cookies which we used to eat as children..

Hamaree Rasoi said...

These look buttery and delicious !! Perfect with a cup of tea

Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi

Jayanthy Kumaran said...

wow...gorgeous clicks...love your yummy recipes..:P

Tasty Appetite

Unknown said...

We don't have these kind of fancy food malls here atleast in my city, so i hardly get chance to see the goodies from other place, finns are so bloody patriotic!! these biscuits new for me, like the idea of pipping them would be fun!! and lightnings are just crisp Nisha! do u use reflectors? i'm so thinking to get them, it's too much for me!

KitchenTherapy said...

there so beautiful, Selfridges is so expensive :(.
I'm adding these biscuits to the list of things i need to make.

Sravs said...

so beautiful and perfectly done dear !!

Suja Manoj said...

Buttery and delicious..pretty cookies.

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Nisha, these look so pretty! You've made the simple cookie look gourmet - fit for the food halls at Selfridges! :)
(Thanks for the mention, Nisha)

aipi said...

Wow ~ they look so pretty, very neat!
US Masala

Unknown said...

wow, very cute looking cookies :)

Sarah Naveen said...

Beautiful clicks...they looks so cute and yummy!!

Vimitha Durai said...

Perfectly baked cute little goodies...

My Inspired Reality said...

Those cookies are a work of art and I bet they taste awesome too:):)

Prathima Rao said...

These look so adorable & yummy!!!
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner

Nitha said...

Pretty n cute ones... I need to learn the art of piping... I always mess up with my piping bag

Priya Suresh said...

Those sables looks buttery,addictive and irresistible..yumm!

Torviewtoronto said...

delicious looking soft cookies

Reshmi Mahesh said...

Neat and beautiful...love the clicks...

Unknown said...

Looks so pretty and gorgeous cookies

Binys Recipes said...

wow these look gud...love the shape u have given to them

Cool Chic Style Fashion said...

Sono deliziosi♥ ciao

Vineetha Sush said...

This is really cute !

Rinku Naveen said...

Really cute cookies and lovely clicks!

Jehanne said...

Hi came across ur blog thru shabs cuisine..i'm new to this but after reading ur previous post on chffon attempt, i have posted my version of chiffon cake if u wanna try.
so i still dont know how to 'advertise' my new food blog but pls drop by in ur spare time!

http://www.thecookingdoctor.co.uk

JishasKitchen said...

wow..that loooks so delicious and amazing clicks too,,:)

Suji said...

Awesome photographs Nisha and cookies looks smooth and buttery!!

Anonymous said...

soo fluffy and definitely buttery Post like these tempts me and then I bake them and then I look at my tummy and wonder how did I gain weight out there!!! :P
www.sunshineandsmile.com

Cool Lassi(e) said...

This looks so fantastic! I do a lot of food gawking too..I am more worried about how it will make me lose my waistline!

Shabs.. said...

enthoru bhnagiyulla cookies!!nice clicks too...i not only do gawking, but getting few as well...absolutely no control!.btw, did u buy that sstand:)

Indian Khana said...

Looks delicious and fab pics .....

Sushma Mallya said...

They have come out so beautifully baked!

Sandra said...

Hi there! Just a quick note, it's "macaron," not "macaroon"; they're separate desserts. :)