Recently, I have been taking Bar Method classes with my good friends Vanessa and Melanie. The class begins with arm exercises using free weights, and then good old fashioned push ups. It’s horrible. Then we move to the barre and begin squatting up and down while on our tippy toes. When our legs begin to burn and our muscles begin to shake the teacher gets happy. “Keep up the shaking, Liz!”, she screams. I want to yell back, “This is upsetting, Gail!”, but I don’t because I’m a professional people-pleaser. Things look promising when it’s ab exercise time. We get to lie down on mats! But the joy is fleeting because ab workouts hurt. Finally, we finish the hour long class with Back Dancing– lying on your back and moving your tushy (i’m a mom of young kids) up and down. I’ve nothing bad to say about Back Dancing. It is what it is. Then we stretch. Using a strap we stretch our legs while still lying on the ground. One day I stretched my foot all the way to Vanessa’s face, and I carefully touched my big toe to her nose. She smiled and then tickled my foot. I love her for that. Anyway, long story short, I’ve been flexing a lot more in front of the mirror these days. Let’s make some lime sablé sandwich cookies!
I’ve been craving buttery, lime desserts. It’s science, really. The butter will fatten me up so as to withstand these long winter months, and the lime flavor will transport me to a tropical island somewhere–footloose and fancy free. I was inspired by Erin McDowell’s lime sablé cookies from her awesome book The Fearless Baker. However, I got into a big sablé baking kick this past December when I tried Cooks Illustrated Baking Book’s sablé recipe. I, therefore, decided to combine the two recipes, and baked the cookie of my winter dreams! I use Cooks Illustrated cookie, and Erin McDowell’s cream cheese filling. Let’s do it!
To make the lime sablés, rub lime zest and sugar together with your fingertips. The sugar helps bring out the lime’s essence.
Add in your butter, vanilla extract, cooked egg yolk (see why here), and mix until fluffy. Finally, mix in the flour and salt. The dough is extremely crumbly. Don’t fret. Just wrap it up in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Once chilled, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. The dough will become smoother and less crumbly as you keep on rolling. It might take you a couple of turns though.
Cut out little, fluted rounds using a 1 and 1/2-inch cookie cutter. Bake in a 350º F. oven for 8 to 10 minutes.
Once cooled, pipe cream cheese filling on half of the cookies. Sandwich those using the remaining sablés.
One tip when making the filling: Don’t over mix. Begin with the butter and mix until fluffy (about 3 to 5 minutes). As you add each remaining ingredient only mix for 30 seconds. This will ensure a much smoother filling.
Notes
Special equipment needed: Standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, rolling pin, parchment paper, rubber spatula, 1 and 1/2-inch round fluted cookie cutter, piping bag (optional)
Ingredients
For the lime sable
- 2 TBS Lime Zest
- 2/3 cup plus 2 TBS (158 g) Sugar
- 20 TBS (284 g) Unsalted Butter, softened
- 2 Hardboiled Egg Yolks, strained through a fine mesh sieve
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 cups (375 g) All Purpose Flour
- ½ tsp Salt
For the cream cheese filling
- 3 TBS (43 g) Salted Butter, softened
- 3/4 cup plus 2 TBS (198 g) Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 tsp Lime Zest
- 4 oz. (113 g) White Chocolate, chopped
- 2 cups (250 g) Powdered Sugar, sifted
Instructions
To make the lime sable
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Set aside.
- Rub together the sugar and lime zest with your fingertips in a bowl connected to a standing mixer. Add the butter, and using the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed until lighter in color, and a bit fluffier (about 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and then mix in the crumbled egg yolks, and vanilla. Add the flour/salt mixture, and mix until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again, and manually mix if it is not fully incorporated. This mixture will be very crumbly. Don’t panic. Knead the dough with your hands a bit to get it a little smoother. Wrap it up in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to three days.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place half of the chilled dough between two pieces of parchment. Using a rolling pin, roll out the crumbly dough to ¼ inch thickness. This might take a couple of tries to get the dough smoother. Just keep at it. Using a round, fluted cookie cutter, cut the dough out and carefully place on a baking sheet. Each piece should be 2-inches apart.
- Once one baking sheet is filled up place it in the oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes (rotating halfway through), or until the cookies begin to color every so slightly along the bottom edges.
- While one sheet bakes, cut out the remaining dough and fill up the other baking sheet.
- Cool the baked cookies completely on a wire rack.
To make the cream cheese filling
- In a microwaveable bowl, heat the white chocolate in 30 second increments until melted. Set aside to cool slightly (about 10 minutes).
- In a bowl connected to a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy (about 3 to 5 minutes). Add in the cream cheese, lime zest, melted white chocolate, and mix on medium speed for only 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Mix in ¼ cup of the sifted powdered sugar at a time, and only mixing for 30 seconds each time. Keep adding the powdered sugar until you’ve reached your desired consistency. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
To assemble
- Using a piping bag, or a butter knife, pipe or spread ½ tablespoon of the cream cheese filling on the back of half of the cooled lime sables. Sandwich the cookies together with the remaining lime sables.
- Enjoy!
