I used to make chocolate sables as one of my Christmas biscuits for years, but I stopped making them a few years ago (Much to the disappointment of my nieces) because the sable biscuit recipe I used was too delicate and prone to falling apart in the heat and humidity of an Australian Christmas. This year I really wanted a chocolate biscuit on my Christmas menu but didn’t want to go to the hassle of making oreos (An excellent Christmas biscuit by the way) and so I decided to revisit the chocolate sable and try a new recipe this year.

This sable recipe from Smitten Kitchen has been obsessively tinkered with to make it a much more stable, less delicate and prone to falling apart chocolate sable biscuit. The secret is in the use of an egg yolk and Dutch processed cocoa to create a seriously stable genius of a recipe. The other brilliant life hack for these chocolate sables is the use of the food processor to grind the chocolate to a roughish powder instead of grating the chocolate. The task of grating chocolate in the heat of December is a terrible task resulting in oozy, melted chocolate that needs to be re-chilled before using anyway. These chocolate sables will not crumble and fall apart, make excellent dunking biscuits (for tea or coffee) and will keep for at least 2 weeks in the tin, what more can you ask of a Christmas biscuit.

very stable chocolate sables

Adapted from Miette via Smitten Kitchen

• 1 cup flour (125g) four
• 1/3 cup (30g) Dutch process cocoa
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda ( baking soda)
• 1/2 cup (115g) butter
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup (100-135g) granulated sugar (depending on level of sweetness desired)
• 1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 100 grams semi or bittersweet chocolate grated or finely chopped into a rough powder in a food processor
• Coarse raw sugar (for sprinkling)

1. Sift together flour, bicarb soda and cocoa into a bowl and set aside.
2. Beat butter, sugar and salt together until light and creamy. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat, scraping down until well combined. Add dry ingredients and grated chocolate together and mix until just combined. ( I quadrupled this recipe for my Christmas baking so I had to do this step by hand in a larger bowl)
3. Wrap dough in glad wrap and chill in fridge for about 30-45 minutes until firm enough to roll out. The dough will keep in the fridge for a few days or can be frozen at this stage, but I like to cut out the biscuits, place them between sheets of parchment paper in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer to bake off at a later stage because this is how I roll with my Christmas baking.
4. To roll out the biscuits. You can roll out the biscuits on a lightly floured surface but I prefer to roll biscuits out between two pieces of baking parchment. This dough is quite crumbly so gently roll it out to about 1/4 to 1/2 a cm thickness. (I prefer them on the thinner side) Cut them out using a 5 cm shape.
5. To bake biscuits – Heat oven to 160C (350F) Place biscuits on parchment lined sheet and sprinkle with decorative sugar. Bake for 8-10 minutes for thinner biscuits and 10-12 biscuits for thicker biscuits Leave sables on tray to cool for a few minutes until transferring to rack.
6. Store in an airtight tin for 2 or even more weeks for a post Christmas treat.