My French Butter cookies recipe creates crisp, rich, buttery, melt in your mouth deliciousness. These classic cookies are super easy to make with just 5 basic ingredients!
French Butter cookies or Sable as they are known in French are probably the most loved cookies in France.
Deliciously crisp on the outside and buttery and crumbly on the inside. Rolled in sugar and sliced creates a beautiful glittery ring around the baked cookies. They make the ideal gift or perfect for any celebration.
As with my Danish butter cookies, Italian Butter cookies, Strawberry butter cookies and 3 ingredient butter cookies, these are incredibly easy to make.
The dough is super easy to be made in advance, ready for you to simply slice and bake.
Ingredients for French Butter Cookies
You need a few staple ingredients to make French Butter cookies. With so little ingredients, you want to make sure you’re using the right ones, and the best quality ones.
Scroll down to the end of the page for the printable recipe card with all measurements and complete instructions
- Butter: Use what you have, either salted or unsalted. If you are using unsalted butter, then add a pinch of salt to your flour. Salted butter will not require adding salt to the recipe. Make sure that you are using room temperature butter.
- Powdered sugar: Also known as confectioners sugar or icing sugar, it mixes easily with the butter to form a smooth creamy consistency.
- Egg yolk: Just one egg yolk is needed to help bind the dough together. It also contributes to the flavor and texture of the cookies. Its best to let the egg yolk come to room temperature before mixing in.
- Vanilla extract
- Flour: Use either cake flour, all purpose or plain flour. Do not use self rising flour. Self raising flour is not recommended as it changes the flavor and texture, making it dense instead of crisp and light.
How to make French butter cookies
This is just the overview so you can see the process. When you are baking, you’ll want to use the full recipe at the bottom of the page.
All you need to mix the dough is a bowl and spatula. That is why its best if your butter is softened to room temperature. It makes it much easier to work with when combining with a spatula.
- Make the dough
Cream the butter and sugar: Use a spatula to mix the butter and sugar until it turns pale in color and light in texture.
Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract: Mix in until combined.
Sift in the flour: Add the sifted flour and mix to form a soft dough.
- Refrigerate the dough
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes
- Divide and roll the dough
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it in 2 pieces
Roll each piece into a cylinder shape of approximately 4 inches (10cm) long and 1 inch (3cm) thickness.
- Freeze the shaped dough
Wrap the cylinder shapes separately in plastic wrap and freeze for 45 minutes.
- Roll in sugar, slice and bake
Remove from the freezer and unwrap the shaped dough
Roll each of the cylinder shaped dough in sugar, coating them evenly.
Slice into 0.4 inches (1 cm) thick disks, and place on baking sheet.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden.
Remove the tray from the oven but leave the cookies on the baking tray for 5 minutes. The baked cookies will be soft when you take it out of the oven but crisp as they cool.
After 5 minutes on the baking tray, the cookies will be firm and crisp enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
Once completely cool store the cookies in an airtight jar.
Frequently asked questions
The cookie dough can be prepared up to 2 months in advance! Make the dough, refrigerate for 20 minutes then shape into a cylinder (according to the recipe size suggestions).
Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to 2 months.
When ready to use, remove from the freezer and as soon as you are able to, slice the dough into disks while still cold.
Don't allow it to get too warm, as the dough will be soft making it difficult to handle and slice.
Yes, sure, simply roll the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Then refrigerate for 45 minutes before cutting into shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes if cut thinner than 1 inch (3cm) thickness.
Tips for the perfect French Butter Cookies
Ensure that your butter is softened to room temperature. Get it out of the fridge at least 1 hour before baking. All the ingredients are incorporated much easier and quicker in soft butter. This also prevents overworking the dough, which produces dense instead of crispy cookies.
Refrigerate the dough if it becomes difficult to handle: The dough has a high ratio of butter and can get difficult to work with if it gets too warm. If the dough gets too warm, simply put it back into the fridge or freezer for a few minutes. This helps to cool the butter, making the dough much easier to work with.
Do not skip the steps of chilling the dough. First after mixing (refrigerated for 20 minutes) and second after dividing and shaping into a cylinder (freezing for 45 minutes) These are important steps. The first refrigeration firms the dough, making it easy to roll into a cylinder. The second time (freezing) cools and firms the cylinder shapes making it easy to slice into disks.
Adjust the baking time if cutting the cookies thinner or thicker than specified in the recipe
Do not overbake the cookies. They will be soft after baking straight out of the oven, but will crisp and get firm as it cools.
Enjoy 🙂
French Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter softened to room temperature see note 1
- ½ cup powdered sugar sift the powdered before measuring
- 1 egg yolk at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅛ cups all-purpose or cake flour see note 2
- ¼ cup granulated sugar for coating the shaped dough, before baking
Instructions
Make the dough
- Cream the butter and sugar: Use a spatula to mix the butter and sugar until it turns pale in color and light in texture.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract: Mix in until combined.
- Sift in the flour: Add the sifted flour and mix to form a soft dough.
Refrigerate the dough
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes. see note 3
Divide and roll the dough
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it in 2 pieces
- Roll each piece into a cylinder shape of approximately 4 inches (10cm) long and 1 inch (3cm) thickness. See note 4
Freeze the cylinder-shaped dough
- Wrap the cylinder shapes separately in plastic wrap and freeze for 45 minutes.
Roll in sugar, slice and bake.
- Preheat the oven to 356° F / 180° C (160° C fan)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking silicone mat
- Remove from the freezer and unwrap the shaped dough
- Sprinkle ¼ cup of granulated sugar onto a tray or large plate.
- Roll each of the cylinder-shaped dough in the sugar, coating them evenly.
- Slice into 0.4 inches (1 cm) thick disks, and place on lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden.
Cool and store
- Remove from the oven but leave the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. The baked cookies will be soft when you take it out of the oven but crisp as they cool.
- After 5 minutes on the baking tray, the cookies will be firm and crisp enough to transfer to a cooling rack.
- Once completely cool, store the cookies in an airtight jar for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Butter: Use what you have, either salted or unsalted. If you are using unsalted butter, then add a pinch of salt to your flour. Salted butter will not require adding salt to the recipe. Get the butter out of the fridge at least 1 hour before baking. All the ingredients are incorporated much easier and quicker in soft butter. This also prevents overworking the dough, which produces dense instead of crispy cookies.
- Flour: Use either cake flour, all purpose or plain flour. Do not use self-rising flour. Self-rising flour is not recommended as it changes the flavor and texture, making it dense instead of crisp and light.
- Do not skip the steps of chilling the dough. First after mixing (refrigerated for 20 minutes) and second after dividing and shaping into a cylinder (freezing for 45 minutes) These are important steps. The first refrigeration firms the dough, making it easy to roll into a cylinder. The second time (freezing) cools and firms the cylinder shapes making it easy to slice into disks.
- Refrigerate the dough if it becomes difficult to handle: The dough has a high ratio of butter and can get difficult to work with if it gets too warm. If the dough gets too warm, simply put it back into the fridge or freezer for a few minutes. This helps to cool the butter, making the dough much easier to work with.
Nutrition
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Diana Buck says
I do not see an oven temp for baking these cookies
The Gardening Foodie says
Hi Diana, the baking temperature (356° F / 180° C (160° C fan) and time ( 15 to 18 minutes ) is included in the recipe card at the end of the post.(scroll to the bottom of the post) The post itself contains information like ingredients and substitutes, frequently asked questions and a visual of the recipe steps.
I hope this helps 🙂 Feel free to ask me anything else you might be wondering about - I'm happy to help 🙂
jj says
do I have to use a spatula or can I use a hand mixer which I find better
The Gardening Foodie says
Hi jj, Certainly, it is possible to use a hand mixer to combine the butter and sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. However, to avoid ending up with dense cookies, I recommend using a spatula to mix in the flour instead of using the hand mixer.
I hope this helps 🙂
Happy baking
Diane says
Delicious cookies. One small discrepancy - the 2x version of the recipe still only calls for dividing the dough in half,(same as 1x recipe) and making 2 cylinder, even though there is double the dough, and we should make 4 cylinders. I didn’t read the 1x recipe through, and chose to do the 2x recipe, so I didn’t realize until I made 2 cylinders that were huge 😂. So I just cut them at 1 cm and made bigger cookies.
The Gardening Foodie says
Hi Diane, Thanks for trying out the recipe and sharing your experience. It sounds like you ended up with some gigantic cylinders instead of four smaller ones, but hey, look at it this way, bigger cookies = more deliciousness😁. But I am glad they turned out well for you 🙂
I apologize for any confusion caused by the double recipe issue.However the recipe card does not account for adjusting the method when doubling the ingredients. I'm really sorry if this caused any inconvenience or problems during your baking experience.