Christmas officially can’t come until I post a cookie recipe. Every year I share at least one and this year it almost got away from me but then I found a recipe for these… Pecan Sables with Dark Chocolate Ganache. I love everything about the way these sound and then after making them, I can tell you that they are some of the best cookies I’ve made. The recipe is from Marie Asselin’s brand new ecookbook Sweet Spot.
Toasty pecans turn into a flour for the buttery sable cookies and smooth dark chocolate ganache perfectly sandwiches the two cookies together for a perfect bite. Cookies don’t get much better than this in my opinion!
I met Marie several year ago, we were just two gals who loved food and thought we’d share our recipes online via blogs. Now, we both of kids and are enjoying our careers in the food world. Marie lives in Quebec City and I love following her life there via instagram. Though I’ve never been to Quebec, the city seems dreamy and filled with rich culture and cuisine. Her extensive travel is not only fun to live vicariously through but cook through. Many of her recipes are inspired by her visits abroad. These specific cookies are inspired by her favorite bakery in Montreal, Patrice Patissier.
Marie’s book, Sweet Spot, goes in depth into creating modern, better for you desserts that are dairy free. Because of Marie’s lactose intolerance she has uncovered many tips on cooking without dairy. But, whether or not you’re diary free, I guarantee you’ll love her dessert cookbook.
As for ingredients for these cookies I used a good quality butter, sea salt, toasted pecans, and 70% dark chocolate. I always use Rodelle Vanilla in my baking, and continued to do so for these crisp sables. If you’re looking for more cookie ideas, Rodelle is sharing cookie recipes all month, visit thru round up here – 21 days of Cookies.
Today I’m offering a copy of Marie’s new ecookbook to two lucky readers as well as a gift package of Rodelle Vanilla products (vanilla beans and vanilla extract). That’s three different gifts you could win just by leaving a comment here. Share with me your favorite holiday cookie and you’ll be entered to win. Winner will be announced on Monday Jenny and Ally you are the big winners of the Sweet Spot Cookbook and Becky M, you won the vanilla products!! I’ll be contacting you all today. Or if you want to download Marie’s book today through Monday, you can get 25% off by entering the code SWEET25 before you checkout here.
Marie’s Book: Sweet Spot: Modern, Better-for-You Dessert Recipes, with Clever Tips to Bake (Mostly) Dairy Free. This book is all about making desserts that are leaner and more nutritious, but still taste sumptuously indulgent. You don’t have to be lactose intolerant to bake from this book. You just have to care about what you eat and LOVE SWEETS! In Sweet Spot, you’ll find: 112 full color pages, more than 60 meticulously tested recipes, mouthwatering photography, and clever tips for adopting a (mostly) dairy-free diet. It is available as an instant download electronic book, in PDF or EPUB formats. The retail price is US$9.99. Right now you can recieve 25% off with code SWEET25 until Monday, December 21st, 2015, midnight EST. Feel free to include that info, your readers will still have two days to benefit from the promo if you post on Dec 19! The cookbook was authored by Marie Asselin from Food Nouveau and photographed by Catherine Côté.
Pecan and Dark Chocolate Ganache Sables
Ingredients
- ¾ cup pecans, toasted and cooled
- ¾ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ tsp kosher salt, omit if using dairy-free shortening
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ cup unsalted butter, or dairy-free shortening, room temperature (1 stick)
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk
For the ganache
- 4 oz 70 % dark chocolate, chopped
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, or dairy-free buttery spread
- 2 tablespoons regular heavy cream, 35% fat content, or other dairy-free cream of your choice
- ¼ tsp kosher salt, omit if using dairy-free buttery spread
Instructions
For the cookies:
- Put the pecans and flour in the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until the pecans are finely ground, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed so the nuts are as evenly grounded as possible. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and whisk in the kosher salt and baking powder. Reserve.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl, if you’re using a handheld mixer), beat the unsalted butter or dairy-free shortening, sugar, and vanilla together until the mixture is fluffy and pale, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and beat well. Add the flour and pecan mixture and mix at low speed until the dough is just combined, about 1 minute. The dough will look crumbly, and that’s OK. Dump about half of the dough mixture onto a square of plastic wrap. Using your hands, bring the dough together into a flat ball, wrap tightly, and refrigerate 30 minutes. Repeat for the second half of the dough. While dough is resting, make ganache.
For the ganache:
- In double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water, add the dark chocolate, unsalted butter or dairy-free spread, and cream of your choice, and whisk just until melted and smooth. You can also do this using the microwave, making sure to use the lowest heat setting so the chocolate doesn’t burn. Transfer the ganache to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.
Baking the cookies:
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the first ball of dough over a large square of parchment paper set directly on a flat countertop (see note at the end of the recipe). Place a second square of parchment paper over the dough and then roll the dough out (rolling the pin over the parchment paper) until ¼ inch thick. Using a 3-inch round cookie cutter, or cookie cutter of your choice, cut out as many shapes as possible, carefully transferring each cookie onto one of the prepared baking sheets (a pastry spatula helps to lift and transfer the cookies.) Make sure to set the cookies about 2 inches apart because they will spread a little while baking. Gather the scraps, reroll, and cut out new shapes, repeating until there is no dough left.
- When you fill up a baking sheet, transfer to the oven and bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes until pale golden on the edges. Store the remaining dough in the fridge in between batches. (You can prepare a second sheet of cookies while the first one bakes to save time.) Cool the cookies for a few minutes on the baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. You can make the cookies ahead of time; simply store them in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble them.
Assembling the cookies:
- Take the ganache out of the refrigerator 20 to 30 minutes before you plan on filling up the cookies so it becomes spreadable again.
- Spread a thick layer of ganache on the underside of a cookie, and then cover with another cookie. Repeat to assemble all cookies.
Serving:
- Take the cookies out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before serving to return them to room temperature before enjoying.
Storing:
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The assembled cookies are best enjoyed within 2 days, as the ganache tends to soften the cookies past that. You can bake the cookies and prepare the ganache up to a week in advance, storing each element separately in the fridge, ready to be assembled whenever you’re set to go.
After avoiding it growing up because of its strong flavor, I found myself reaching for gingerbread cookies more and more.
love a chewy traditional gingerbread cookie
My favorite is molasses cookies.
The stars make them the perfect amount of festive, and pecan and dark chocolate is such a wonderful combo. I’ll take a whole batch, please!
I love gingersnaps all year.
boy these look good. You got me in the cookie mood! Just pulled some butter to soften!
This year I’m really into the spicy flavors; gingerbread, molasses, pumpkin, persimmon. mmmm… I love the nutmeg, ginger, molasses, allspice, cardamom. I want them all!
Oh my goodness…these look amazing. My favorite holiday cookie is gingerbread!
These look fabulous! My favorite holiday cookies are fancy chocolate chip cookies and a newly discovered brownie cookie.
I’m all about the brownie cookies too Becky! I have a chewy chocolate cookie on the blog that is the key to my heart 😉
Iced sour cream ginger cookies are getting ,are tomorrow morning! I look forward to them every year!
Gingersnaps. Hands down. That sharp spicy sweetness, and perfect crunch just steal my heart every bite.
i love a chewy ginger cookie, but brownies will always be my favorite
Sounds like we have similar tastes! Chewy ginger cookies are some of my favorites and I have a huge affection for brownies. If you haven’t tried them yet, you should totally check out my brownie recipe and my chewy chocolate cookie recipe (brownie in cookie form!). Happy Holidays!
My favorite holiday cookie is a butter cookie with good vanilla.
I’m loving butter cookies these days too Sandy!
Shortbread and pizzelles are my holiday cookies of choice 🙂
Mmmm pizzelles! I haven’t made them before but they are so beautiful and tasty!
my fav holiday cookie is gingerbread men!
My favorite Christmas cookie comes from someone in my dad’s family-I’m not sure who. Anyway they are a butter cookie with crushed walnuts formed into a crescent and then iced-some with chocolate frosting, some with vanilla frosting. I need to get in the kitchen and bake these before the week is over!
You’re cookies sound similar to these janie! I bet you would love these pecan sandies too 🙂
linzer torte cookies, no nuts soo good. these cookies sound wonderful, not sure i will get to them this christmas, but will definitely be on the list for next christmas, if I can wait that long.
I’ve never had linzer torte cookies so they are now on my list too! Thanks Barbara!