What Is Pâte Sablée?
Pâte Sablée is a buttery, sweet, melt in your mouth as one of the finest French short crusts. It is more crisp and cookie like than flaky like a pie crust. It does crumble a bit, but is far from dry and would be described as rich. It uses softened butter that is thoroughly mixes with sugar, which gives it a sandy texture, unlike a traditional pie crust that uses cold butter and is smooth in texture. Pâte Sablée can become the base for any tart you can imagine.
When Is It Used?
Pâte Sablée is a rich, French crust used in pastries and tarts. It is typically used for the kinds of pastries or tarts that have pastry cream and fresh fruit to top them off. It can also be filled with creams such as lemon, chocolate, vanilla or whatever you desire. Bake the tart so that it is fully cooked and then top it with whatever you’re craving.
Ways to Use Pâte Sablée
1. Cookies: turn it into shortbread cookies by chilling, then rolling out to your desired thickness and cut into squares or whatever shape you prefer with a cookie cutter and bake.
2. Lemon Tarts: Layer a fresh lemon curd in a tart and top it with meringue. Toast as a finishing touch.
3. Fruit Tarts: Layer a thinly sliced layer of fresh fruit over a creamy curd and top with jam if desired.
4. Savory Tarts: Quiche is a favorite in our home and what better use to utilize a Pâte Sablée than turning it into a rich and elaborate crust.
Pâte Sablée
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- stand mixer with whisk attachment
- baking sheet or tart pan
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened at room temperature
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and whisk until completely combined.
- Add the flour and salt, mixing on low speed. Be careful to not over mix as over mixing can lead to a very tough batter.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up for a few minutes before use. Instead of lightly flouring your work surface, roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper. Then transfer to a tart pan and trim the edges with a paring knife.
- Pâte Sablée is typically a blind-baked crust: Before filling with cream or fruit, line the dough with parchment paper and fill with a layer of pie weights. Blind-baking will ensure the tart shell stays crisp.
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