French Sand Cookies

The French Sand Cookie is a classic French butter cookie.  It is also called a "Sables" which is French for sand and refers to the crumbly sand-like texture.  This recipe was adapted from The Budget Cook Book by Ida Bailey Allen dated 1935 (also a Depression-Era cookbook). 

1/2 cup of margarine

1 cup of granulated sugar

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon almond extract

11/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

  

 Cream together the margarine, sugar, egg yolks, well beaten, and the extract.  Sift together the dry ingredients and work them into the first mixture. Cover and chill the dough for a few hours.  Then transfer to a slightly floured board.  Roll to one-fourth inch in thickness and shape as desired with a cookie cutter, keeping the cookies small.  You can dust the cookies with plain or colored sugar crystals and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 11 minutes.  This makes about 2 dozen.

In doing a little research on this cookie I discovered it froze well.  I thought this was perfect for American cooks this week who are looking to make the holidays a little easier.  I thought it would be nice to bake a batch of these cookies this week and then pull them out in a few weeks and decorate them.  That way half of the work will already be done before the Christmas season.  I froze several and then pulled them out of the freezer to thaw and decorated mine with a white chocolate tinted red and some crumbled up peppermint.

How do they taste?  They taste like a mix between shortbread and a crisp sugar cookie with the almond flavor.  I love the almond flavor in a crisp sugar cookie with coffee or tea.  It is a great mix.  So have a little tea and enjoy!

Sherry

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