Viennese Sablés | Tuesdays with Dorie

Making the sables is a break away from the gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy-free cookies I last baked, over a year ago. Seeing the results of other bakers at Tuesdays-with-Dorie, I was tempted to make the Viennese sablés. “These taste exactly like those Danish butter cookies, the ones that come in the blue tin.” I don’t need more convincing.

Except with the addition of the egg white, these cookies come close to the most basic 1-2-3 shortbread cookie dough formula. One part sugar: two parts fat: 3 parts flour. A cookie with the right texture and crunch and the right balance of fat and sugar. I’m curious, though, about the effect of egg white on the cookie. Does the egg white in the Viennese sablés act as leavener which helps give the cookies the softer and airier crumb?

I don’t think the Viennese sablés taste as rich and buttery as  the shortbread cookies in the blue tin. They are denser in texture. Can’t blame the butter. I used Kerrygold pure butter, churned to make, from cows graze on the green pastures in Ireland. I could be wrong with the blue-tin comparison, but that’s my take. These cookies seem to keep well after a few days.

Working with the open-star tip, which I don’t get to use often, was fun. As you can see, I piped the dough into rosettes. I wished I have taken some before pictures. The dough spread out and did not retain the original pretty tight rounds.