Praline Sable Cookie for Christmas

Praline Sable cookie is the most delicious Christmas cookie ever! Sweet shortcrust cookies sandwiched together with silky chocolate hazelnut praline filling and shaped into reindeer, Christmas tree etc!

The look and taste of the hazelnut praline might remind you of Nutella, however the depth and complexity of the flavours is in a different league.

Best part of the recipe? Making the Christmas shape cookies, for sure, you will love it! Most delicious part of the recipe? Definitely the hazelnut praline & silky chocolate filling, sort of Nutella Pro! Totally irresistable and will impress everyone over the Christmas dinner! Let´s get started!

My Top 5 Baking Tips for home bakers

1. Read the recipe carefully including my tips and recommendations on how to avoid and fix typical issues during baking these Praline Sable Cookie for Christmas
2. Avoid using substitutes and changing the recipe unless you are aware of how to fully reformulate the recipe in order to keep the balance in texture as well as flavour. Reducing sugar, replacing egg, using ingredients not on the right temperature etc. will all have an impact on your baking
3. For consistent, happy baking experience always measure your ingredients with the help of a Digital scale. Cup measurement is provided as an indicative figure only and might be used for less complex and large batch recipes however it is not an appropriate method for more delicate, complex pastries like this Praline Sable Cookie for Christmas
4. Did you know that most home ovens can significantly under or oven run? Also, oven temperature hugely drops when opening the oven door therefore it is recommended to always pre-heat the oven above the required baking temperature.
5. Temperature is so important when it comes to baking and accurate oven temperature is key, can make or break any recipe. Make sure you invest into an inexpensive Digital oven thermometer to avoid under baked, burnt, sad looking cookies

Some important notes regarding the INGREDIENTS of this Chocolate Hazelnut Praline Sable Cookie for Christmas

For the Chocolate Sable Cookie

1. Flour: I am using pastry flour for this chocolate sable cookie recipe, feel free to use AP if can’t find pastry flour in your local supermarket. If you want to be a Pro when it comes to deciding what type of flour to use in your baking, please read my article in here
2. Almond: Some Pâte Sablée recipes contain almond, some don’t, I prefer mine with some almond flour in it from taste and texture point of view. It is worth to buy good quality ground almond, without skin. You can replace it with equal amount of flour
3. Cocoa powder: Cocoa powder will make this into a wonderful Chocolate Sablée! Always use unsweetened, 100% cocoa powder in baking. I use dutch-process cocoa powder, it has a lovely dark colour and it is lower in acidity
4. Sugar: This chocolate sweet pastry dough is made with icing sugar. If you want to learn about the different types of sugar and how to use them in baking, please read my article in here
5. Salt: An essential ingredient in most of the dessert recipes. Balances flavour and enhances other ingredients especially chocolate desserts. This is a sweet tart dough and I just love that extra very mild salty kick at the end
6. Butter: Use always unsalted as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using 82% fat content butter in all my recipes. While in most of the recipes butter needs to be on room temperature, this is an exception and very chilled butter is absolutely non negotiable. Butter needs to be properly chilled, which means take the butter out of the fridge, cut into cubes then place it into the freezer for 10-15 minutes before using it
7. Egg: Room temperature as always

As you can see making Sable cookie for the Praline Sable Cookie is super simple in terms of the ingredients. The secret behind making them beautiful and neat is all about mastering the technique, understanding how temperature plays in role while working with the dough and using the right equipment that I will be all explaining further down in this recipe.

For the Chocolate Hazelnut Praline filling

1. Chocolate: In general, worth to remember in case of chocolate based recipes, the quality of the chocolate goes way beyond taste. In this recipe I am using Callebaut Milk Chocolate (callets). This  is a high-quality chocolate (yet affordable) that contains a higher percentage of cocoa butter than the average supermarket chocolate. Couverture type of chocolate is used by professionals and by home bakers who want to take their chocolate work to the next level. It is usually sold online in a bigger pack eg. 1 kg and perfect to make recipes that requires high quality chocolate. I order mine from Amazon and surprisingly the price / kg it is not even so much more expensive than a low quality supermarket chocolate. Couverture chocolate is not a must in this recipe but make sure you use the best quality chocolate you can access, believe me it makes the difference
2. Hazelnut Praline: Hazelnut Praline is effectively a paste that consists 50% hazelnut and 50% sugar. I prefer buying the praline paste online but it can be easily made at home by mixing toasted hazelnut with hot dry caramel, letting the mixture to cool and harden and then blending them together until it becomes a paste. Make sure, that your blender is strong enough to make praline paste, it is quite and effort for the mixer that is why I prefer to buy ready made. I absolutely adore hazelnut praline paste, it is a sweet, nutty paste with a super deep flavour. Not too thick, not too thin, mixing it with chocolate will make the perfect chocolate hazelnut filling. You can also use it to make ice cream, mix it into pastry cream, mousse, brownie etc. If you buy it online, make sure you buy pure praline paste that is 50% nut (typically hazelnut) and 50% sugar

My top 5 tips regarding the TECHNIQUE of making these Praline Sable Cookies

I have a very detailed step by step tutorial including all my tricks and tips for making the perfect chocolate sweet shortcrust in here. This time you won´t need to make tartlets, only cookies, however the process of preparing the dough is identical. If you read and follow my instructions and tips I can guarantee that you will succeed making these Chocolate Hazelnut Praline Sable Cookies !

1. The importance of temperature while making Pâte Sablée aka sable cookies

Baking is science and in general temperature is one of the most important factors to understand AND utilise for our benefit. When I say temperature I don’t purely mean baking temperature but also the environment we work e.g kitchen temperature as well as the dough temperature.

While making sweet shortcrust, temperature is everything! If the dough is too hot, it’s sticky and can’t be rolled out or shaped. If too cold, it will easily break. The entire tart making process is a balancing exercise between keeping the dough cold enough but not too cold.

To give you a concrete example, in a home kitchen environment on a warmer day this practically means taking the dough in and out of the freezer about many times in between steps to ensure the dough is always on the right temperature to work with. If you are lucky and have a cold kitchen, you might be ok with 1-2 chilling breaks. Yes, you need to control the dough temperature all the time throughout the process.

2. What equipment is needed to make sable cookies

You can only achieve neat, visually appealing, even golden colour sable cookies by using professional baking equipment. Luckily these are available to purchase on Amazon not just for professionals but also for home bakers. If you want to make beautiful, patisserie style cookies it’s worth to invest into a silicone baking mat and perforated baking mat, see below the reason why.

Silicone baking mat

I recommend using 2 Silicone baking mat for rolling the shortcrust dough out in between them. The recipe is designed in a way that you do not need to add extra flour while rolling the dough however it might stick to your kitchen counter so use silicone baking mat. It’s also possible to use 2 sheets parchment paper however the silicone mat provides a much neater, smooth surface. It can be washed and then used all the time so overall worth the investment. I am using the “Amazon basics” cheapest version so no need to buy anything expensive, check it out in here: Silicone baking mat

While rolling the Chocolate Pâte Sablée dough, start from the center of the disc and work your way out in all directions. Again remember, temperature is very important. If the dough is too cold, you won´t be able to roll it out. If too warm, it will be difficult to handle and will even stick to the silicone baking mat.

Perforated baking “air” mat

The air mat is perfect for baking tart crust, éclairs or cookies like these Chocolate Hazelnut Praline sable cookies. Thanks to the holes in the mat, the heat spreads evenly throughout mats’ surface guaranteeing a perfect and even baking without blind baking. 

Bake the cookies in between two Perforated “air” baking mat . The cookies won´t puff up while baking and will bake super neat and even.

While baking these cookies, use the Perforated “air” baking mat straight on top of the oven rack (so not in a baking pan) so that the air can circulate properly. Check it out in here: Perforated “air” baking mat. I have been using mine for a while now and love i!

3. How to make Christmas theme cookies

Well, as the cookies sandwiched together there is top and bottom part you will have to cut out from the dough. For the bottom use a simple round shape cookie cutter. For the top use the same size round cookie cutter and within that cut out shapes using whatever Christmas theme cookie cutter you have, eg. Ginger man, Christmas tree, reindeer, snowflake etc. Make sure that the Christmas theme is smaller than the actual diameter of the cookie. See picture below

4. Process of making this Christmas theme Chocolate Pâte Sablée cookies

Now that we covered all the important WHAT and WHY, let´s see how exactly to make the cookies for this Chocolate Hazelnut Praline Sable cookie recipe

• Make sure all ingredients are measured with Digital scale and prepare all the tools ahead: Rolling pin, Silicone baking mat, Perforated “air” baking mat
• Place the measured butter cubes into the freezer for 5-10 minutes
• Sift together dry ingredients; flour, icing sugar, almond, salt, cocoa powder and mix so they are combined properly
• Add very cold butter cubes to dry ingredients and rub the mixture between your hands until it becomes a sand like consistency. This will take about 3 minutes, make sure you do not spend too much time with this step as butter can easily warm up and that is something we want to avoid
• Add egg into the mixture and mix with your hands just until the dough comes together. First it might look crumbly but do not add more wet or dry ingredients to the recipe instead gently knead the dough with the palm of your hand for a minute or two (do not over knead and do not use mixer) just until the dough becomes smooth
• If the dough is too warm and sticky, place it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes first. Otherwise continue with rolling the dough out into 2mm thickness between two Silicone baking mat. The recipe quantity is designed in a way that once you roll the dough out it will reach the silicone baking mat from edge to edge
• Place the dough into the freezer for 10-15 min in between the two Silicone baking mat. Do not remove the mat at this point as the dough might stick to the mat while it is warm and it would break the dough
• Prepare your oven rack with the Perforated "air" baking mat on top. Alternatively use a tray with parchment paper
• Take the dough out from the freezer and using a round shape cookie cutter cut out 14 circles - half of these will be the bottom of your cookies. On the other half (7) apply the Christmas theme cookie cutters
• If at any point the dough gets too warm to work with, pop it back into the freezer for 5 minutes. You might need take the dough in and out of the freezer 10-15 times. It is extremely important to work with a dough that is cold enough to be able to handle (so not sticky) but not too cold which would result in breaking it
• Pop the unbaked cookies into the freezer while pre-heating oven to 160C / 320F
• Bake cookies for 20 min in between two Perforated "air" baking mat then let them cool before filling

5. How to make Chocolate hazelnut praline filling for these Christmas cookies

The filling in this Chocolate Hazelnut Praline Sable cookie is absolutely lush! Deep chocolate and hazelnut flavours that go super well with the sable cookies.

Once you have your hazelnut praline paste either home made or store bought, it is easy peasy! Melt chocolate in microwave stirring every 30 seconds. I am using  Callebaut Milk Chocolate (callets) so as stated on the pack, I have to warm up the chocolate to 45C. If you can access couverture chocolate, the required temperature is stated on the bag.  If you are using any other supermarket chocolate, aim for a similar temperature for milk chocolate, and make sure you do not over heat or burn your chocolate. Then mix in hazelnut praline paste and heat the mixture up again to the same temp. Then wait until mixture cools.

The filling will go through the following 4 stages:

1. warm and too runny to sandwich the cookies together
2. the ideal temperature and consistency to pipe the filling onto the cookies and sandwich them together
3. still not fully set but already too thick to pipe and sandwich the cookies together
4. too cold and firm (if you place it into the fridge, that is the consistency you will achieve) to basically do anything with it

As the filling mixture cools to room temp, you will need to find the ideal temp (2nd stage) that is not too runny and not too firm and allow you to sandwich the cookies together. Pipe the hazelnut praline filling on top of the round shape "bottom" cookie. Optionally dust "top" part with icing sugar, I like to do so as the shape pops out more. Then gently press the "top" Christmas theme cookie on top of the filling. If filling temperature is right, the cookies should stick together without too much filling running out.

The cookies can be stored on room temp, in this case the filling will be rather creamy and soft (not runny!). Or they can be stored in the fridge, especially if you plan to transport them at later stage, it is better if they are properly set.

Try some of my other Christmas recipes

Chocolate pistachio tart Christmas tree edition - This festive Chocolate Pistachio Tart Christmas tree edition is the ultimate elegant dessert you can serve during Christmas and impress everyone! Homemade Pâte Sablée tart cases filled with crunchy pistachios, creamy pistachio paste that is topped with silky chocolate ganache. Recipe in here

Christmas tree cupcake - This Christmas tree cupcake recipe consists of a moist and tender chocolate muffin filled with chocolate ganache and decorated with my favorite super light and easy mascarpone cream frosting. Easy, quick, looks and tastes just amazing! Recipe in here

Pistachio Raspberry Yule log - This Yule log filling includes a delicious, slightly tangy raspberry couilis and the silkiest, creamiest pistachio whipped ganache, two flavours that perfectly balance each other without being overly sweet! Finally, the Bûche de Noël is decorated with super easy, yet visually appealing white chocolate stars that are garnished with freezed dried raspberries. This is a totally showstopper Christmas cake that is completely doable for home bakers! Recipe in here

Gold macaron - These Gold macarons can be perfect for any special occasions or celebrations like birthdays, weddings, Christmas or New Year´s etc. Festive French macarons that also tastes amazing; they are filled with caramelized white chocolate that has the perfect deep caramel note without being overly sweet and hazelnut paste with the most delicious natural nutty flavor. The Gold macarons are decorated with a very simple technique using gold glitter that is painted on them. Recipe in here

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