Tomato Leaf Sable Breton

Hi!

I am writing this recipe on my phone, in a summerhouse with very spotty WiFi and kids who ask me “can we get more candy?” knowing I am working and therefore more likely to say yes just to be able to finish writing. Does it make me a bad mom that I am sort of proud of their evil genius ways?

This is a recipe I’ve been wanting to share for a while, but I’ve been waiting until I had a proper dessert for it. Not that they aren’t utterly delicious on their own, they are if the rate at which they disappeared is the proof in the pudding, but I used this particular batch to crush up and serve with a watermelon & lemon verbena sorbet.

Tomato leaf is something I have mostly used previously as an infusion in jam, olive oil panna cotta and ice cream/sorbet as a complimentary flavour rather than the star of the show. The citrusy, earthy and very tomato-ey flavour of the leaves is so lovely it deserve the spotlight. And since we are playing around in sweet-savoury border country, it felt right to chop the leaves up and add them to a biscuit that is in the same not too sweet and just a little savoury territory: the Breton sable. As opposed to “regular” sable, these biscuits have baking powder added to the dough making them not just buttery, crumbly delicious, but light and melt in the mouth divine.

If you don’t have access to organic(!!!) tomato plants, feel free to substitute tomato leaves with lemon thyme, marjoram, basil, mint or a mixture of them!

Tomato Leaf Sable Breton

Makes 20-25 biscuits

175g butter

4 yolks

165g sugar

230g flour

10g baking powder

1 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped young tomato leaves picked from the top of the plant

1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon salt

1 egg for egg wash

Cream the butter, lemon zest and tomato leaves together on low speed until soft and smooth, about a minute or two.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, and sugar until thick and airy.

Add the egg yolks to the butter with the mixture running on lowest speed, scraping the bowl to if lumps of butter cling to the sides.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and gently fold into the butter mixture until fully incorporated, then press the dough into a 2-3cm thick disc and wrap in cling film.

Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 180C and line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out the chilled sablé dough to about 1-1,5cm thickness and cut out 5cm discs - or any other shape you want, I don’t judge. Much. - and place them a few centimetres apart on the baking sheets.

Use a fork to scratch a diamond pattern on top of the cookies, then use a pastry brush to brush the top of the cookies with egg wash. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 15 minutes before transferring to a sheet to finish cooling.