[Mirabelle]

Pâte Sablée Biscuits

Now, to make these delicious shortcrust bikkies you can use a food processor to cut down the prep time, but processors work far too quickly and you will lose that lovely sandy texture that makes them so appealing. It's not a lot of bother doing the biscuits by hand, and if it's a rainy day then so much the better. I love baking on rainy days, but also early in the morning of a day that promises heat and sun. Getting the baking done will mean throwing my trotters up on the garden table, sipping an ince cold drink and pigging a plate of these wonderful morsels.

Essential To Know: Use the best unsalted butter you can find. Don't skim on quality! The better the butter, the better my biscuits are going to taste. I've used Normandy butter that was hand churned by a tanned French woman, so bought a lot more butter than usual. Glad I did because they came out so lovely that I regretted not making double. Now, I make double and you'll soon know why when eating them!

Another Tip: I never used a biscuit/cookie cutter. Instead I either cut the dough into disks or, use a 2 in / 2 cm diameter jam jar and pat the disks out. Choice is your's.

Make Ahead

The biscuits can be kept in a tin at room temperature for about 5 days if you prefer or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 1 month. However, beware of biscuit thieves. Mandy or young Sophie.

Ingredients

1 1/4 sticks (5 oz; 140 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Slightly rounded 1/2 cup (125 g) sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 cups (280 g) all-purpose flour

Put the butter in the work bowl of a food processor (if you must) fitted with the metal blade and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until the butter is smooth. Add the sugar and process and scrape until thoroughly blended into the butter. Add the egg and continue to process, scraping the bowl as needed, until the mixture is smooth and satiny. Add the flour all at once, then pulse 10 to 15 times, until the dough forms clumps and curds and looks like streusel.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gather it into a ball. Divide the ball in half, shape each half into a disk, and wrap the disks in plastic. If you have the time, chill the disks until they are firm, about 4 hours. If you're in a hurry, you can roll the dough out immediately; it will be a little stickier, but fine. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and refrigerated for up to 4 days or frozen for up to 1 month.)

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Working with one disk at a time, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is between 1/8 and 1/4 inch (4 and 7 mm) thick. Using a 1 1/2-inch (4-cm) round cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can and place them on the lined sheets, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) space between them. (You can gather the scraps into a disk and chill them, then roll, cut, and bake 'em later.)

Bake the biscuits for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are set, but pale. (If some of the cookies are thinner than the others, the thin ones may brown around the edges. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool to room temperature.

Now grab a glass of chilled milk, a handful of biscuits and vanish.