Cardamom Sablés

Sweet, buttery sablés are similar to shortbread, made slightly sturdier by the addition of egg yolk. Think of them as a blank canvas—cardamom adds a subtle floral flavour, but you could add citrus zest, dried or chopped candied ginger, roughly chopped nuts or chocolate instead—or swap ½ cup of the flour for cocoa to make chocolate sablés. The dough can be baked right away or chilled and sliced; these are a perfect candidate for stashing away in the fridge for those holiday cookie emergencies.

1 cup butter, at room temperature ¾ cup sugar ¼ tsp salt 2 large egg yolks 2 cups all-purpose flour ½ tsp ground cardamom

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ F, or hold off if you’re not ready to bake yet.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and salt until pale and fluff y; add egg yolks and beat again until combined. Add flour and cardamom and beat or stir by hand just until dough comes together.

3. If you like, shape dough into a log, wrap in parchment and refrigerate for an hour or up to a week (or freeze for up to 4 months). If you want to bake them right away, roll dough into 1-inch balls, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and press with a cookie stamp, bottom of a glass or tines of a fork to flatten. ( You may have to dip them in flour first to prevent sticking.) Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until pale golden and set, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. ( To bake refrigerated dough, slice and bake as directed, pressing each slice with a cookie stamp if you want a pattern.) Makes about 1½ dozen cookies.