I confess that I’ve been saving this post because I couldn’t come up with words good enough to describe these biscuits. As I’ve said before, (and have shown in the shameless invasion of cookie recipes in this blog) I absolutely adore cookies, in any form. And while there’s no such thing as the perfect cookie, because the perfect choice depends on the moment, weather, accompanying beverage, and previous meal, these ones are pretty close to being the perfect teatime bite. (Also could be the perfect coffetime bite, but people never say 5 o’clock coffee, for some reason). I love having something to accompany my tea, and I always childishly try to eat it in as small bites as I can, to see if I can make it last until I see the bottom of my cup. These, for sure, will NOT last until the bottom of your cup. They don’t melt in your mouth; they crumble, ever so thin and light. Buttery-sweet-flakey. The vanilla ones are perfect for tea, and the chocolate ones for coffee. But be careful and serve only a bit, or you’ll find yourself having a whole meal comprised solely of these biscuits. To add to their wonderfulness, they keep very well as long as they’re placed in an airtight container, preferably with a sign on the tin that reads “don’t grab anymore, you’ve already had 10!”) .
They’re a variation on the recipe for the traditional french sablés below, of which I baked about a ton for a special order. These are also delicious, but quite heavier and best served with a glass of cold milk.

Butter and sugar biscuit thins
(Adapted from a recipe by LCB Paris)
Depends on the size of your cookies, but this recipe makes quite a bit. I don’t suggest doing half the recipe because they keep really well.

560 grs cold butter, in cubes
800 grs flour
250 grs icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
Sugar for rolling in

If you’re making chocolate ones, add 60 grs of cocoa powder for the ingredients above.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 315ºF.
Sift together the flour, icing sugar and salt. (If you’re going for chocolate, add the cocoa powder) Place with the cubed butter in the bowl of your standard mixer and with the leaf attachment mix on med speed until it becomes crumbly and you can no longer see lumps of butter larger than a pea. Add the vanilla and milk and mix for 5-10 seconds more. Dump the mixture on your work surface an using the palm of your hand, rub the crumbly mixture softly against the marble, turning it into a dough. Try not to pass your hands over the same bit of dough more than twice, as this will both warm the butter and develop the gluten in your flour.  Once you’ve formed a ball of dough, place it in the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes, to keep it from being too soft. Take it back out and form logs of about 4-5 cm. Once your logs are evenly shaped, place a good amount of sugar on the work surface, enough to cover the length of the logs. Brush the logs lightly with water, then roll them in the sugar. Be generous, and roll them twice if necessary. Place your logs in the freezer for 20 minutes. Using a sharp knife, cut the logs in 2 or 3 mm thick slices. (If they’re too soft for this, freeze them a bit longer). Arrange on baking sheets and let them thaw for 10 minutes, then bake until only slightly golden.

(Note: If you’d like instructions on shaping the other cookies in the pics, let me know in a comment and I’ll gladly post it)