Today I attempted making Pierre Herme’s Chocolate Sable Cookies. The recipe is in the Standard Baking Co. cookbook my mother gave me for Christmas, and although I have never had these cookies, or even seen them in person, they looked scrumptious in the photograph and I decided to make them. Making something you have never had is more of a challenge. I had no frame of reference as to the consistency or taste. My cookies might be close to the original, but I honestly have no idea. What I do know is that they were difficult to make. The dough is very dry (but has the most heavenly scent) and you are supposed to roll them into logs, refrigerate them, and then slice them and bake them. Slicing dry dough is not easy – even with a sharp knife. The dough crumbled apart. My husband saw the disaster and suggested pressing the dough into a cupcake tin – for a guy who has never baked anything in his life this was a great idea. I pressed the dough into cupcake tins and baked. The cookies held together.
My husband describes these cookies as being similar to the chocolate cookies in oreos. They are dark rich chocolate. I do think that the dough would make a fantastic no roll pie crust – perhaps for a custard pie. Overall the cookies weren’t a total disaster, but I wouldn’t call them a success either.
Have you ever struggled with a recipe?
Jennifer A
Wednesday 30th of October 2013
they don't use eggs in their adaptation of Pierre's Sables, which is why it's so dry I think. His sables use either egg whites or egg yolks. Just a thought, since I had the same experience making these and checked his recipe for comparision.
The Porto Bellas
Monday 21st of January 2013
Two weeks ago I attempted to make "Chocolate Bailey Cupcakes" for the blog. And they turned out EXACTLY like your photo. Haha. I'm still not sure what I did wrong... I didn't sift my ingredients, so that may have been part of it. And maybe the alcohol did something to ruin the batch too. But, I still haven't lost hope... I will add Baileys Irish Cream in my cupcakes again- and it WILL work out! Thanks for sharing your story, I had a good laugh when I saw this photo! (Ahh, my Bailey cupcakes!!!) :P -JulieC
thekittchen
Monday 21st of January 2013
I bake with Baileys often. My advice is to put the Baileys in the frosting (plus this way the alcohol doesn't get baked out. My friends loved this recipe: https://thekittchen.com/2011/11/16/chocolate-and-baileys-ganache/
jonathanochart
Monday 21st of January 2013
Glad they held together despite crumbling at first! I love seeing how people make recipes work...these look tasty! Thanks for sharing (: