Brown Butter and Sage Sables

I think the Brown Butter and Sage Sables are the perfect example of where Claire and my dessert preferences differ from one another, but nevertheless, I gave them a try, and now…I’m aware of what they are.

I found it interesting to use fresh sage for this recipe. I’ve never really seen sage used for anything besides clearing the spirits out of a household, but these were vibrant and smelled fabulous. I cooked the sage with butter until it came to a boil, then watched it as brown bits started scraping off the bottom of the pan. The sage definitely crisped up through this process, but I pulled it out once I poured the butter into the stand mixer.

While the butter cooled down, I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl. When the butter solidified again, I added the sugar and lemon zest, and beat it together in the stand mixer. I then added egg yolks, vanilla and the bowl of dry ingredients.

This all created a relatively firm dough, which I split into two halves. I never seem to be as successful as Claire in forming roll cookies into perfectly circular logs, but I gave it my best shot. I kept the cookies in the fridge for about two hours, as I am very impatient with these things. Meanwhile, I used those fried bits of sage from earlier and mixed them with some demerara sugar.

Once the logs were nice and firm, I spread the sugar mixture and rolled the logs across, trying to get as much sugar and sage to stick. I used a sharp cutting knife to slice them about ¼ inch thick. This is the part where I often end up with cookie slices that are more oval than circular. I tried to make them circular again, but I had to be careful as the dough started to get softer. I baked the cookies for about 18 minutes; one nice thing with Claire’s roll cookies is you can often bake them on an upper and lower rack, speeding up the baking process.

Look, I’m just going to be honest; there’s really nothing about these cookies that excite me. I liked getting to work with sage, but I don’t drink coffee or any other hot drink that might work well with these treats. I freaking love sugar and chocolate; these cookies just don’t offer me much in taste or looks. Perhaps some honey would help? I’m not sure, but I’m happy I gave it a whirl and can say I’ve been there, done that.

Claire has not yet posted a video on this recipe on her YouTube channel, I'll let you know if she does!