Halloween sable cookies are crumbly butter cookies that are flavored with cinnamon (or pumpkin spice if you'd rather) and rolled together with orange dough to make a simple pinwheel pattern.Eendlessly customizable with citrus zest, spices and colors, these slice-and-bake cookies are not too sweet and are a nice, crunchy bite of Halloween fun.
4.5ozunsalted butter1 stick and 1 Tablespoon, slightly softened
3.5ozgranulated sugar1/2 cup
¼teaspoonkosher saltI use Morton's
2large eggs
8.75ozflour245 grams, or about 2 cups
½teaspoonground cinnamon
For the Orange Dough
4.5ozunsalted butter1 stick and 1 Tablespoon, slightly softened
3.5ozgranulated sugar1/2 cup
¼teaspoonkosher saltI use Morton's
2large eggs
8.75ozflour245 grams, or about 2 cups
4-5drops orange gel food coloring
For Shaping
1egg whitebeaten
Prepared icingpowdered sugar glaze, or corn syrup to use as "glue."
Small candy Halloween decorations such as black catsghosts, candy eyes, etc.
Instructions
For the Cinnamon Dough
Cream the butter, salt, and granulated sugar together until nice and creamy, about 3-4 minutes with a stand mixer.
Crack the eggs into a bowl, beat them lightly, and with the mixer on low speed, drizzle them into the mixer gradually, in about 6 additions over 2 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Whisk the flour and cinnamon together, and with the mixer off, add the whole amount.
Mix on low speed until all the flour is uniformly moistened and you have a nice, stiff dough.
Scrape the dough out onto plastic wrap, and wrap it tightly, pressing it into a rectangle. Refrigerate while making the orange dough.
For the Orange Dough
Follow the same steps above, omitting the cinnamon and adding the food coloring with the butter, salt, and sugar.
Scrape finished dough onto plastic wrap, wrap it tightly. and refrigerate both doughs for at least 2 hours or overnight.
To Shape and Bake
Set a rack in the upper and lower thirds of your oven, and preheat to 325F.
Remove the dough from the fridge, unwrap, and cut each rectangle into two equal pieces. Rewrap one of each and work with the remaining two.
One piece at a time, place each piece on a lightly floured surface and lightly flour the top of the dough.
Roll each piece into about a 1/4" thick rectangle, all roughly the same size. Your rectangles should be about 10" long.
Brush as much flour off the dough as you can.
Brush the cinnamon sheet of dough with a very thin coating of beaten egg white and top with the orange sheet, lining up your rectangles as well as you can.
Use a pizza wheel to cut the two long edges of the rectangle of dough so they are straight. This will make it easier to roll up.
Brush the orange sheet of dough with a very thin coating of egg white. Roll up from one of the long ends. Press the seam together as well as you can, roll up in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Repeat steps 3-7 with the other pieces of dough. Each roll of dough will fit on 1 cookie sheet. You can save some to bake now and freeze some of the dough for later.
Once all your dough is prepared, slice off each uneven end of your rolls of dough.
Cut each roll into about 16 1/2"-thick slices.
Place on a Silpat- or parchment-lined baking sheet. The cookies will not spread much, so you can have them relatively close together. You should easily be able to get 16 cookies on each pan.
Lightly spray the bottom of a flat glass or a measuring cup with pan spray, then dip in flour, knocking off the excess.
Use it to gently press down on each cookie until they are about 1/4" in diameter.
Reflour the glass as necessary so the cookies don't stick.
Bake on racks for about 15 minutes, rotating the pans and switching racks halfway through baking.
The cookies are done when the bottoms are lightly golden brown and the edges are just beginning to color.
Remove to cooling racks to cool completely.
Once cool, use little dots of icing or corn syrup to attach small Halloween decorations to the centers of each cookie.
Let dry, then store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
Variation
You can also brush the outside of the logs of dough very lightly with egg white and then roll the logs in Halloween sprinkles or sparkling sugar before slicing, pressing, and baking.For chocolate dough, substitute 1 oz coca powder for 1 oz of flour and whisk the two together before adding to your dough.
Storing
Keep the cookies in an airtight container or cookie tin. They will be fine at room temperature for up to five days.
Freezing
For longer storage, store in a freezer bag with a zip top for up to 2 months. Press as much air out of the bag as possible before sealing.