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Horizontal closeup photo of a stack of French Shortbread Cookies (Sablés Bretons) surrounded by flowers and cups of milk.

French Shortbread Cookies (Sablés Bretons)

These crisp, buttery French Shortbread Cookies (Sablés Bretons) are crazy delicious. They look and sound quite fancy but, in reality, they're super easy with just one bowl and no mixer needed!

Course Baked Goods, Dessert/Cookies
Cuisine French
Keyword French Shortbread Cookies, Sablés Bretons
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 20
Calories 155 kcal
Author Chris Scheuer

Ingredients

  • 1 cup very soft butter I use salted butter
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour more for the counter
  • granulated sugar or Vanilla Sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. (190˚C.) Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In a medium size bowl, combine the soft butter and sugars. Stir until smooth and well combined.
  3. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and stir to incorporate. Add the flour and stir just until all of the flour disappears. The mixture will seem crumbly at first. Just keep stirring until it starts to come together.
  4. Sprinkle a work surface with flour. Have some extra flour on the side in a small cup.
  5. Turn the dough over several times to coat lightly with the flour then divide the dough in two and cover one half with a piece of plastic wrap.
  6. Keeping the surface and your rolling pin lightly dusted with flour at all times, roll out the dough to the desired thickness. I like mine about a ¼ inch thick for thinner cookies and closer to ⅜ for thicker ones like in this post. You can go thinner or thicker it’s just important to keep the surface underneath the dough lightly floured as you roll. (I also like to dip my cookie cutter in flour before cutting each cookie to keep the dough from sticking to the cutter.)

  7. Use a cutter of your choice (I used a scalloped 3-inch cutter) to cut out the cookies, transferring them to one of the prepared sheet pans as you go. Space the cookies 2 inches apart.
  8. Bring the dough scraps together, then roll out more cookies until the dough is used up. Repeat with second ball of dough. Sprinkle the cookies lightly with granulated sugar, cane sugar or Vanilla Sugar. Chill the cookies in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes before baking.

  9. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until light golden brown. If the cookies have puffed a bit or have some little bubbles, you can flatten them at this point with the back of a flat metal spatula. Sprinkle lightly with a bit more sugar. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe Notes

See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips to ensure success.

If you prefer to use Metric measurements there is a button in each of our recipes, right above the word “Instructions”. Just click that button to toggle to grams, milliliters, etc. If you ever come across one of our recipes that doesn’t have the Metric conversion (some of the older recipes may not), feel free to leave a comment and I will add it.

Recipe adapted from MON PETIT FOUR

Nutrition Facts
French Shortbread Cookies (Sablés Bretons)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 155 Calories from Fat 90
% Daily Value*
Fat 10g15%
Saturated Fat 6g38%
Trans Fat 0.4g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5g
Monounsaturated Fat 3g
Cholesterol 44mg15%
Sodium 74mg3%
Potassium 18mg1%
Carbohydrates 15g5%
Fiber 0.3g1%
Sugar 6g7%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 310IU6%
Calcium 7mg1%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.