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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Pierre Herme's Vienesse Chocolate Sables - Chocolate Cookies Simple & Sophisticated

Chocolate Sable 9

Chocolate Sable 2

Chocolate Sable 8

I first started to read about Pierre Herme when I went  through my macaron obsession phase many years ago. That was the time when macarons were still not readily available in Singapore - before Bakerzinn and Canele Patisserie became the rave of the town. It was a time when very few would attempt to bake macarons at home and the secrets/techniques of baking macarons were more elusive. How a few short years have changed everything. Now, it seems like everyone I know can make a macaron - even my order fulfillment colleague who does not bake!

We undoubtedly have to thank Pierre Herme for the Macaron Revolution. Dubbed as 'The Picasso of Pastry' , PH leads the new trends in the pastry world. May it be unusual flavour combinations in macarons or brilliant flavour pairings such as the Rose/Lychee/Raspberry in the Ispahan, Pierre Herme never fails to awe and inspire.

IMG_8110
I was flipping through his Chocolate Desserts (a collaboration with Dorie Greenspan) to find something to bake when this simple recipe caught my eyes. Contrary to what many think, a pastry guru's recipes need not  necessarily be difficult and tedious. The Vienesse Chocolate Sable must be the most easy cookie recipe I have come across and till now, 24 hours after I have finished baking and tasting it, I still find it hard to believe that such a simple recipe could have yielded something so sophisticated and so good!

Light as air to the core, the cookie grazes the palate like delicate lace before spreading out like sand. The texture is sensational, the rich chocolatey airiness - addictive.

You most likely would have all the ingredients in the pantry. I urge you to whip this up and experience it for yourself.

IMG_8110(250)
Recipe : (From Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme, written by Dorie Greenpan)
Ingredients
260g           All purpose flour
30g             Dutch processed cocoa powder
250g           Butter
100g           Powder sugar, sifted
Pinch          Salt
3 tbsp         Egg white

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Whisk together, flour and cocoa powder and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk butter until creamy. To ensure that the recipe succeeds, the butter needs to be very soft. (not a difficult thing for us in Singapore)
4. Add in powder sugar and salt to butter and continue to whisk until light and creamy.
5. Whisk in egg white until it is well combined with butter cream.
6. Add in (2) and mix until well combined.
7. Spoon dough into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe dough into W shaped cookies. (mine are still not as pretty - needs practice!)
8. Bake cookies at 180C for 10-12 mins - no more. The cookies will be delicate - transfer carefully into cookie jar after cooled.

54 comments:

Pei-Lin said...

Shirley, these are truly good! I've made them myself a few years ago, for two or three times (can't remember exactly). Yours look much better than mine! Here are mine, just to share with you:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocbcb/3196645875/in/set-72157612526791181

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ocbcb/3389760413/in/set-72157612526791181

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

Peilin, :) you've made yours round - I thought they look nice too!

Zurin said...

Im bookmarking. Im a chocolate addict. Beautiful!k

茄子 said...

你做得很美!和大师的一样:)

Roberta Galea said...

These look so nice, love the way you made the cookies, and photography is superb :)

la-roquette.blogspot.com

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Coincidentally I was at Canele Patisserie yesterday evening with my family. I had to give it a try to see what the awe was all about. ;) indeed very delicate and exquisite deserts there. But I think the macarons there are over rated & over priced! I simply can't imagine how these restaurant survive with $2.50 per macaron which obviously people can replicate similar cookie at much much lower budget, although not as nice but still, home made is cool. yes, all thanks to PH...now all I need to do is to try his recipe! ;P

Wen said...

These cookies look so divine & delish! Am going to bookmark this to try! Thanks for sharing!

Jean said...

upon reading ur entry, i went to take out my copy of the book too! haha i guess i missed out this recipe...i thought most of the recipes in his book look too complex for a home baker...but this one is just right :) thanks for sharing!

grub said...

hahah! i was wondering what/who PH was last night when you tweeted about it! never would i have thought it was Pierre Herme! i'd always thought his recipes were really long :P

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@bee bee, yes, macarons tend to be rather expensive. $2.50 is already somewhat reasonable. If you were to go to HK or Japan, you would need to pay anywhere between USD 3 to USD 4 for one. Luckily I am not so crazy over them :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely cookies!

:) christine

Von said...

These cookies are so pretty! :D The first time I heard of Pierre Herme was when I was looking at macarons too! :) I've never tried any of his recipes...and i've never seen his books either! But I've seen his recipes on blogs- and they always sounds so good. And your cookies are no exception! If only I had a batch right now......

penny aka jeroxie said...

Very elegant cookies. Great to see recipe from Pierre Herme other than macaron.

Joanne said...

Whoa these are SO pretty! They look dainty actually!

tigerfish said...

they look like melting cookies....awesome!

CaThY said...

Very lovely! must be very yummy ;)

Min said...

Looks great and yummy :) Can't wait to bake this too, thanks for sharing the recipe!

Shumaila said...

They look so decadent! Cant wait to try them out! Thanks for sharing!

DG said...

Great shape cookies! They are sophisticated & delcious.

Maria said...

They look so elegant and delectable!

La Table De Nana said...

How beautiful..I have never made this shape..you have inspired me..Thank you!

Mike said...

I love sable cookies! And from Pierre Herme no less! They look great!

La Table De Nana said...

I thought I had left a message..but I think I forgot the magic word at the end:)

This time I will type it in~:)

These cookies look like they melt away in your mouth.
I love the piping bag method and thank you for the inspiration.
Ils sont beaux!

girlleastlikely said...

wow! These look so easy, but oh so good! Definitely on the list of things to make!

Jennifer (Delicieux) said...

I love Pierre Herme and Dorie Greenspan, and these sables just prove why, they look so delicious! I love how you've piped them. They look so gorgeous.

j3ss kitch3n said...

very lovely! on my to bake list as well!

Anh said...

u r so quick! I was so curious about these cookies after reading your tweet yesterday! :)

Jeannie said...

That's a very unique say of piping out chocolate cookies....so used to seeing it in round lumps lol! Beautiful! I'll bookmark this for CNY:D too fattening to eat on normal ocassion:P

Edith said...

Shirley, these are so delicious chocolatey. Am eyeing this for June hols.

Jun said...

It looks delicious. Would love to add a bit cinnamon...

Joyti said...

I've made Pierre Hermes' chocolate sables before, but not the Vienesse chocolate sables. The recipe is a bit different - the regular sables are like a chocolate shortbread, eggless. These look so much more elegant though...and more unique. And the way you describe them, as being airy, they sound really delicious too.

daphne said...

They just seem so easy!!! Oh and it looks pretty- what do you mean by practise? LOL mine will look even worse but I shall call them.. mm..creative?

Sneh | Cook Republic said...

Oh my! How gorgeous are those cookies? So perfectly shaped too :-)

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Oh these look gorgeous! I love the wavy pattern to these, they look like they belong in a patisserie window! :D

Anonymous said...

These look exquisite! I'm really interested in the texture, and they look so pretty in the little W.
Now to get my hands on some quality cocoa powder...

Alice said...

look seriously good!

Xiaolu @ 6 Bittersweets said...

Beautiful! Love the pretty pattern from the piping tip.

Juliana said...

OMG, these cookies are adorable, so elegant...perfect at anytime. Love the shape and the flavor. Hope you are having a wonderful week Shirley :-)

Jo said...

Very nice and elegant. I love the way you have piped the cookies.

thecoffeesnob said...

I love how elegant these look! I have to say though I'm surprised that this recipe came from Pierre Hermes given how his recipes has a certain rep for being really complicated and finicky. Bookmarked to try soon! :)

pickyin @ LifeIsGreat said...

You see, I'm bookmarking this recipe but I don't dare to make it because... I might just eat it all up at one go. I have zero self-control when if came to his world peace cookies, so I dunno...

... but it wouldn't be that bad right? I mean, there are worse things I can eat than a whole batch of this? And I have egg whites in the fridge. Oh God... Shirley!!!!

Passionate About Baking said...

I've tried making sables before. But it's not as good as yours! You're right, this looks like my next cookies to bake and enjoy!

maameemoomoo - a ½ food blog said...

Oh great! I have very reluctantly added this recipe to my to-bake-list *stares at the wobbly tummy and sulks* :P

Lee said...

Hi Shirley, wow! You are good! Regret I've never seen nor eaten one.
But sure looks delicious.
Anymore left? Ha ha.
Have a nice day.
Lee.

Anonymous said...

What the hell is 3 tablespoons of egg white?

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@annoynymous: do you know what a tablespoon is? All you need to do is separate the egg whites from the yolk and scoop out 3 tablespoon of the egg white with it. If you don't have a tablespoon, I strongly suggest you to get one.

Anonymous said...

About how many cookies does this make? Thanks!

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@anonymous - I made half the recipe and it yielded about 30 cookies. But really it all depends on how big or small you decide to pipe yours...

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for posting this delicious recipe. I made them today and posted them on my blog. I also linked to this page. Now I am looking forward to getting my hands on that book!
http://www.donutstodelirium.com/2011/05/herme-for-housewives-viennese-chocolate-sables/
*kisses* HH

Passionate About Baking said...

I baked this yesterday and I love every crumbs of it! Thanks Shirley!
http://passionbaker.blogspot.com/2011/05/vienesse-chocolate-sables.html

SS said...

Just baked these! The name sounds so complicated, but these are the easiest thing I've ever made! Made mine in all shapes and sizes, just delicious! Thanks!

Shirley @ Kokken69 said...

@SS, so happy to hearbthatbit has worked out for you! It's a great recipe!

Mumsfilibaba said...

it seems so easy to do and the result looks yummy yum :P

ngmui said...

Simply beautiful! love to play with my food too :)

Sweet Sarah french macarons and more
sweetsarahshop.etsy.com

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