Camille Fourmont’s Rose, Cumin and Apricot Sablés
The French cookies known as sablés take their name from their sandy texture (sablé means “sandy” in French). The unusual combination of flavors attracted us to this recipe in La Buvette: Recipes & Wine Notes from Paris, which we adapted here. We reviewed the book in August 2020.
The flavor combo rose-cumin-apricot has a cool story attached to it: Camille Fourmont, chef-owner of La Buvette, the 11th Arrondissement wine bar, tasted an experimental tart made by pastry genius Pierre Hermé, the ex-husband of her friend Fréderick Grasser-Hermé. The tart featured peach halves set on rose-infused almond cream, all sprinkled with cumin-caramelized sugar. Fourmont created these sablés as tribute to the experience of sharing that tart with her friend Fréderick. She swapped peaches for apricots because “dried apricots are a million times easier to find and make a result that is just as charming.”
They bake up stunningly well. Those alluring flavors are captured beautifully in a super buttery cookie that’s not too sweet, with perfect, sandy texture.
Makes about 32 cookies.
Ingredients
3/4 cup salted butter, at room temperature (or 3/4 cups salted butter plus 3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt)
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
1/2 cup finely diced dried apricots
10 dehydrated rosebuds, green stem ends removed
Instructions
1. In a large bowl, mix the butter (or butter and fine sea salt if using unsalted butter) with a rubber spatula to ensure it’s soft and malleable. Add 1/3 cup of the sugar and mix until the sugar is evenly incorporated.
2. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, cumin and flaky sea salt. Add the flour to the butter mixture in three parts, gently stirring in between additions to completely mix in. Stir in the apricots until incorporated. Divide the dough in two. On a lightly dusted counter, roll and pat each half of the dough into a sausage about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the two dough sausages in plastic wrap, twisting the ends tightly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until firm. (You can do this a couple days ahead.)
3. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets parchment paper.
4. Crush the rosebuds with your hands and mix them into the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. (You can do this a couple days ahead for a deeper rose flavor. If the rosebuds are not dry enough to crush by hand, try pulsing them in a small food processor or spice grinder, or crush them in a mortar with a pestle.)
5. With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/2-inch-thick or slightly thinner coins. Roll the edges of each coin in the rose sugar and set about 1 inch apart on the prepared pans.
6. Bake each pan, rotating once, until the bottom and edges have lightly browned but before the apricots on the surface become too dark, 18 to 20 minutes. Let the sablés cool completely on the baking sheets. Once cool, store them in a tin for a week, but you will have finished them before then.
Camille Fourmont’s Rose, Cumin and Apricot Sablés
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup salted butter, at room temperature (or 3/4 cups salted butter plus 3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt)
- 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
- 1/2 cup finely diced dried apricots
- 10 dehydrated rosebuds, green stem ends removed
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix the butter (or butter and fine sea salt if using unsalted butter) with a rubber spatula to ensure it’s soft and malleable. Add 1/3 cup of the sugar and mix until the sugar is evenly incorporated.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, cumin and flaky sea salt. Add the flour to the butter mixture in three parts, gently stirring in between additions to completely mix in. Stir in the apricots until incorporated. Divide the dough in two. On a lightly dusted counter, roll and pat each half of the dough into a sausage about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the two dough sausages in plastic wrap, twisting the ends tightly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until firm. (You can do this a couple days ahead.)
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets parchment paper.
- Crush the rosebuds with your hands and mix them into the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. (You can do this a couple days ahead for a deeper rose flavor. If the rosebuds are not dry enough to crush by hand, try pulsing them in a small food processor or spice grinder, or crush them in a mortar with a pestle.)
- With a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/2-inch-thick or slightly thinner coins. Roll the edges of each coin in the rose sugar and set about 1 inch apart on the prepared pans.
- Bake each pan, rotating once, until the bottom and edges have lightly browned but before the apricots on the surface become too dark, 18 to 20 minutes. Let the sablés cool completely on the baking sheets. Once cool, store them in a tin for a week, but you will have finished them before then.
Notes:
Recipe notes
• The original recipe called for salted butter, without giving the option of using unsalted and adding salt.
• The original recipe did not call for dividing the dough in two, but the sausage quickly became so long it was unwieldy.
• The original recipe suggested that if the rosebuds are not dry enough to crush by hand, you try pulsing them in a spice grinder along with the sugar. Our rosebuds were too moist to crush by hand and we tried that, but it made the sugar too fine to give the desired sandy edge on the cookie. Better to crush the rosebuds separately in that case.