If there’s one type of cookie that defined my childhood in Brittany, it’s the Sablé Breton! These traditional French salted butter cookies are crispy, buttery, and perfectly balanced with a hint of salt. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting out, this easy recipe will transport you straight to a Brittany kitchen.
What is Sablé Breton?
Sablé Breton, also known as French salted butter cookies, originate from Brittany, my home region, known for its high-quality salted butter. The word “sablé” means “sandy” in French, referring to the crumbly texture of these cookies. These buttery cookies can be found in all grocery shops and bakeries across Brittany. They are usually sold in tin boxes with flip lids decorated with illustrations or photos depicting Brittany life. And most locals like myself will tell you it is their absolute favorite!
Like many other Brittany recipes, these French salted butter cookies are made with the simplest of ingredients: flour, sugar, eggs and a lot of butter enriched with sea salt flakes. They have a very unique salty-sweet flavor that makes them a favorite not only in Brittany but in all French homes.
Let’s dive into how to create the perfect Sablé Breton right in your own kitchen!
Ingredients you’ll need for this traditional Sablé Breton cookie recipe
Brittany bakers like to rely on simple, yet high quality ingredients. Here are my recommendations for choosing the best ingredients for Sablé Breton cookies
- Butter. This recipe is all about the butter: choose a good-quality European brand. Read my notes below where I give you more details about the right butter to choose, whether you’re in France or outside of France.
- Salt. Whenever possible, use fleur de sel, available online and at many grocery stores across the US and Canada. If fleur de sel isn’t available, opt for high-quality sea salt flakes, like Maldon, which also offers excellent flavor and texture.
- Sugar. White sugar is best here.
- Eggs. We need 3 large eggs for the dough, and 1 egg yolk mixed with milk to brush atop the sablés right before baking. This helps provide the golden tops.
- Flour. Use all-purpose flour.
- Milk. We just need 1 tbsp (15ml) of milk for the egg brushing. Prefer 2% m.l. or whole milk.
If you want to stick to the authentic Sablé Breton look, use a 2-inch (5cm) round and scalloped cookie cutter.
Step by Step instructions
- Preheat and Prep: Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine wet ingredients: Cream together the butter, salt and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the 3 whole eggs, one at a time.
- Add dry ingredients: Slowly incorporate the flour into the butter mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together—don’t overmix, as you want to maintain that tender, crumbly texture.
- Roll Out the Dough: Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch (1.27cm) thickness. If the dough feels sticky, you can refrigerate it for 15 minutes to make it easier to handle.
- Cut Out Cookies: Use a round cookie cutter to cut out your cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake: Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
- Cool and Enjoy: Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea!
Audrey’s tips for Perfect Sablé Breton Cookies:
Before you start, I wanted to share a few more notes and tips, including on choosing the right butter and salt – the two most important ingredients in this recipe.
1. Use High-Quality Butter
Since butter is the star of this recipe, using a European-style salted butter will give you the best flavor and texture.
In France, you have the choice between these three butter types:
- “beurre doux” (unsalted butter)
- “beurre demi-sel” (slightly salted butter)
- “beurre salé” (salted butter with sea salt flakes, 3 to 5% more salty than the “beurre demi-sel” butter). Beurre salé is mostly consumed in Brittany and is the one used to make these salted butter sablés. In your kitchen, you can recreate this salted butter by using “unsalted or “demi-sel” butter to which you add fleur de sel. Adding fleur de sel recreates this signature salty, crunchy bite that makes these cookies so special.
You can find “demi-sel” French butters in the US/Canada at some grocery stores (such as Echire’s) or even some European-style butter, cultured or not cultured (such as Land O Lakes’). These are definitely good-quality butters and I’d strongly suggest using them for your baking projects.
2. Choose the right salt.
To salt the butter and achieve an authentic taste, I rely on French Fleur de sel, which you can find online and in some grocery stores in the US/Canada. If you can’t find fleur de sel, try to find some other good-quality sea salt flakes. Maldon is very good too. It has fine flakes but the volume can remain the same as fleur de sel in this recipe.
3. Don’t Skip the Chilling
If your dough is too warm or sticky, chill it for a few minutes before rolling it out. This makes it easier to cut into shapes.
4. Don’t over-mix.
Mix until the ingredients are just incorporated and hold into a rough ball. Overmixing results in tough cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the dough be made in advance?
Absolutely. The dough can be made and wrapped well in cling wrap. The unbaked dough can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator. Before rolling it, leave it at room temperature for ten minutes to soften. Follow instructions as per the recipe.
Can I add flavors like chocolate or spices?
Absolutely! You can experiment by adding a touch of cinnamon, lemon zest, or even dipping the cookies in melted chocolate for a fun twist. Although if it is your first time making these Breton sables, I recommend simply sticking to the basic recipe to experience their iconic buttery taste.
How long do they keep?
You can keep the sables in a sealed Tupperware for up to 10 days. After that time mark, they tend to harden, but still taste good in my opinion.
Can I freeze them?
Yes, these cookies freeze very well. Keep them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Serving Suggestions
Sablé Breton cookies are incredibly versatile! Serve them with a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or your favorite tea. In France, we also use them to crumble over ice cream or yogurts for an added crunch. I also love to crush them for a cheesecake crust, in lieu of graham crackers.
They are also perfect for Holiday gifting! Pack them in a beautiful tin and gift them to friends and family for the holidays.
I hope you’ll love this French Salted Butter Cookies (Sablé Breton) recipe as much as I do! If you have any questions or tips to share, please feel free to leave a comment.
More French Cookie recipes to try:
- Lemon Poppy Seed Sablé Cookies
- Classic French Madeleines
- Almond Cinnamon Shortbread Cookies (Alsatian Schwowebredele)
- Classic French Madeleines
- Buckwheat Sablés with Chocolate
- Thin Spiced Almond Cookies (Pains d’Amandes)
- Cocoa and Almond Thumbprint Cookies from Alsace (Linzele)
- Chocolate Almond Twice-Baked Cookies from Provence (“Croquants”)
- Spiced Cookies with Candied Citrus Peels and Almonds (Leckerli)
14 comments
I’ve made these a couple times and they always turn out either too pale or the bottoms are completely burnt. Any suggestions?
Hi Stephanie! These sablés are very buttery so the bottom is supposed to be quite brown once baked (although not burnt). Are you making sure you use a rack placed in the middle of the oven, or even higher (not in the lower half?). This sounds look an issue I had quite often with my previous oven, where most of the heat would come from the bottom and was not even. This took a little while until I found the right setting, and played around with the high of the rack. I hope this helps!
Nice!
thanks!
Hello Audrey. About 3 years ago you provided us with a recipe for Breton Salted Butter Sablés, where you gave us instructions for incorporating salt into the butter into the sablé dough. I have a block of Les Prés Salés butter in the fridge, and am wondering if I can substitute that instead of following the recipe to add seasalt to unsalted butter.
Hi Will! Yes it looks like Les Prés Salés butter comes with big sea salt flakes, so you don’t need to add more salt to the butter. Happy baking!
I’d like to make these cookies, but in rural Michigan my butter choices are limited. Can you provide a recipe for the appropriate amount of fleur de sel to add to a pound of unsalted butter? I know that various salts have differing consistency and weights so is the recipe the same for Maldon sea salt?
Hello, Ken. I hope I’m understanding the question properly. Maldon and fleur de sel can basically be used interchangebly for this recipe. If you wanted to salt your own pound of butter (this recipe only uses 250gr of butter) I would suggest using 14gr of fleur de sel or maldon (a bit less than 3 teaspoons) for a pound of butter.
This past Christmas I need my gift box of holiday, baked, cookies, and candies… Which are always a hit. Shortly before baking, I had the good fortune of securing 4 boxes of ‘La Grande Galette’ made by St. Michel. Thrilled to have French Butter Cookies made with Guérande sea salt, I realized my excitement caused be to over. I thought. “I’ll use them for my gift boxes. But still, 4 boxes were a lot…until it wasn’t. When I figure out what to do, I began my bake day only to find 2 boxes entirely disappeared!
My point: the authentic French store bought ones are irresistible (my French husband agreed as a crumb fell to his collar :-).
I made apple cider caramels dipped in chocolate. I save some caramel for my Galette idea. I let a caramel melt on the bottom of one galette and placed another in top to make a sandwich. The caramel firmed a distinct but thin line between the cookies and welded them together. Then, with a serrated knife I sliced the Galette sandwich in half….which was quite easy if place solidly in a hard surface. I then dipped half of the galette half in dark chocolate and then dipped in toasted walnuts or pecans.
They were absolutely devine. The butter flavor with the saltiness combined with the tang of the caramel was delicious. And the sandy texture with the slight chewiness of the caramel contrasted nicely. The amount of nuts and chocolate were purposely conservative so as to complement the caramel and cookie, respectively.
Now, I do not expect to run into a stash of St. Michelle Galette’s next year. Yet, I already have requests for them. So I will take 2023 to perfect the ones I make homemade from your recipe. Thank you for including the emphasis on the ingredients. They truly are a special type of cookie. I can see where it can be ruined without the right ingradients.
This is some wonderful storytelling, I can picture every word you wrote… And the “caramel sandwich” idea sounds absolutely delicious! I’m sure with enough practice, your homemade version will be every bit as good as the St. Michelle (or close enough). And I’m sure your husband won’t mind helping to eat all the practice!
Just printed a recipe for my daughter and I to make tomorrow night! Hopping these are as delicious as we had in Brittany 2 years ago!
Really hope you’ll enjoy them! I think they’re about as close as I can get them, but the ultimate secret is the absolute best quality butter you can get. Would love to hear back 🙂
I’m one to follow a recipe EXACTLY (including weighing ingredients), and my yield for one recipe was 30 (2½-inch) baked cookies, not 18 – and yes, I used a ruler to make sure my unbaked cookies were ½-inch thick. As you didn’t specifically say how to make the imprints, I found that dragging a fork across the cookies in crisscross fashion for the imprint worked best rather than pressing down as for regular peanut butter cookies (tried both ways). As I am in the USA, I used Land-o-Lakes Extra Creamy European-style butter (82% milk fat) as you suggested. You said they are supposed to be dark golden, but because I don’t even like dark toast, I baked them to a light golden in the top ⅓ of my oven (heats from the bottom). They turned out great! Thank you for the recipe.
Amazing, Deb! So glad you enjoyed the recipe, and even happier you ended up with 30 cookies (and not 18)! More to enjoy! I hope other regions from the USA will use some of your tips, especially regarding the butter used. Sounds like it was a total success 🙂