These Lemon Sablé Biscuits are so simple to make. Not only that, but they taste so good too. A sablé is a French biscuit which is very similar to shortbread. They can have several different flavours, but lemon is a favourite.
The recipe is actually very easy to make, as you might expect. However the dough is more like a sticky paste, so it can be a little difficult to handle. To prevent that it is best to work with very cold dough. I will explain that in more detail in the recipe. Keeping the dough cold does mean the recipe takes some time to make, but the wait is worth it.
If all goes well the resultant biscuits are so flavoursome and have a wonderfully crisp and tender texture. The flavour, of course is lemon. I enhance this flavour with a thin layer of lemon glaze on the top.
Ingredients
The ingredients list is not too exhaustive and uses readily available items.
Flour – Plain or all purpose flour is good for these biscuits
Ground Almonds – gives an extra little flavour and a great texture.
Icing sugar – some for the biscuits and more for the lemon glaze
Lemon juice – just 2 tablespoons, divided between the dough and the glaze
Lemon Zest – this adds great flavour to the biscuits
Egg white – to help form the dough/paste. You may not need all of one white.
Butter – unsalted butter is best. It needs to be cold and cubed.
Salt – to draw out all the other flavours.
Process For Lemon Sablé Biscuits
Making the dough
As I mention above the process takes quite some time. That is because the dough is more like a paste and has to be very cold indeed before you can use it.
Start by mixing all the dry ingredients together. Then rub in the butter until the mixture is like a coarse sand. At that point you can mix in the zest as well.
Add in the lemon juice along with most of the egg white and mix together into a dough, or paste.
Although all of the preceding can be done by hand you can also use a food processor.
Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and form into a disc. Then carefully wrap in plastic wrap and chill it. You can transfer the dough straight into plastic wrap too, if you wish.
Chill the dough until it is very hard, meaning that the butter has solidified. This will certainly take at least an hour and I actually left mine for 4 hours.
When the dough has hardened divide it into 4 equal parts, working with one at a time and keeping the others cold.
Working with the dough
Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. To do this you can put it between two sheets of plastic wrap, or parchment paper. It is important to work quickly and cut out scalloped discs about 2 1/2 inches/6 cm in diameter. Transfer them to a lined baking tray. Repeat the process with the remaining dough, chilling it again whenever necessary.
Then chill the cut out biscuits in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F. Bake the biscuits for about 14 minutes, until the edges begin to brown a little. Take them out of the oven and leave tor a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Stir the remaining lemon juice into the rest of the icing sugar to make a runny icing, or glaze. Brush that thinly over the top of the biscuits and then leave them to set up.
My Lemon Sablé Biscuits
I was very patient as I made the biscuits. I took time to ensure that the dough was very cold at all times. Any hint of the dough becoming sticky and I put it back into the fridge. That all worked so well. So in the end I had 30 biscuits ready to bake.
I baked them for 14 minutes and left them to cool completely. Then it was time to coat the tops with the lemon glaze. I let that set up to dry out and harden somewhat before tasting.
The biscuits were so crisp, yet with such a tender crumb. The flavour, of course, so lemony just as you would wish.
These are perfect little biscuits to enjoy at any time.
Another great biscuit recipe is Digestive Biscuits – Quick & Easy
Lemon Sablé Biscuits
30
servings40
minutes14
minutesKeep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
180g(1 cup + 3 tbsp) plain flour
70g(2/3 cup) ground almonds
85g(3/4 cup) icing sugar
15ml(1 tbsp) lemon juice
grated zest of 1 lemon
1 medium egg white(large in USA)
200g(14 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- Glaze
55g(1/2 cup) icing sugar
15ml(1 tbsp) lemon juice
Directions
- Place the flour, salt, icing sugar, ground almonds and zest into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Or just in large bowl and mix together.
- Add the butter and process(or rub in if doing by hand) until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Add the lemon juice and most of the egg white(you can add the remaining egg white later, if you need it) and process, or mix until everything comes together in a soft paste dough.
- Place the dough onto a floured surface. It will be very soft and sticky. Carefully form it into a disc.
- Transfer to some plastic wrap and chill in the fridge until the dough is very hard. This will take at least one hour and probably longer.
- When the dough is hard divide it into 4 quarters.
- Work with one quarter as you keep the others chilled.
- Place the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, or parchment paper.
- Roll it out to a thickness of 1/4 inch, if it cracks just push it back together.
- Cut out scalloped discs of 2 1/2 inches/6 cm in diameter and transfer to a lined baking tray.
- Rework the remaining dough, but chill it again first as it will quickly become very sticky.
- When all the dough has been rolled and cut out chill the biscuits again, on the trays, for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F.
- Bake the biscuits for 14 minutes, until the edges begin to brown a little.
- Leave them on the trays for a couple of minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
- When the biscuits are cool mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice to make a runny glaze.
- Bruh the glaze onto the top of the biscuits and leave them to set up.