Chocolate Sable Cookies

I made these cookies for Sarah's baby shower last weekend.  And these were truly a labor of love.  Knowing that the week would be busy, I made a test batch the weekend before and I'm so glad that I did!  First off, the recipe calls for grated/shaved chocolate.  I thought I could cheat by chopping up the chocolate and throwing into the food processor.  Also, for the first batch, I followed the Miette recipe but the dough was very dry and hard to roll out without cracking.  The final cookie was a crumbly buttery cookie with melted pockets of chocolate in it instead of the uniform chocolatey goodness that was intended.  So batch two (after doing some research online) involved hand grating and modifying the recipe by adding an egg yolk to help bind the cookie dough together.  Thanks Smitten Kitchen...I should have listened to you the first time around!  I must ask for forgiveness for the quality of these pictures too.  Halfway through batch 2, my dSLR went on the fritz and I had to snap the remaining shots with my iPhone.

Since Sarah's shower was Safari themed (those of you who are friends with me on Facebook already got a sneak peek...we'll be sharing a post soon once we compile the best pictures together from both of our cameras!), I decorated the cookies with a vanilla buttercream frosting and Duff's Cheetah Print and Zebra Stripe cupcake tattoos (similar here).  I had to bake the cookies during the work week (batch 3), transport them to LA, and decorate the cookies the night before the shower so they wouldn't get smushed.  Unfortunately, the shower weekend was pretty hectic, so I didn't get any good pics of the finished product.

 

Chocolate Sable Cookies

(adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

Ingredients

3.5 ounces 70% cacao chocolate, grated

1/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup of Confectioners' sugar

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together into a medium bowl.

Cream butter, sugar, salt, egg yolk, and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add dry ingredients and grated chocolate together and mix until just combined.  

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  On a floured surface, roll dough gently until 1/4 inch thick.  Cut with cookie cutter, spacing an inch apart on baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Gently transfer to cooling rack.  Enjoy with a cup of coffee or with ice cream!