Sable cookies for Masha

This is a receipt from a book "Essentials of Baking" or something like that, I have found it in one blog and now copy it to this blog (as usual I make my corrections to anything I cook, it just happens).

I had some kind of negative experience with these cookies - I have put too much sugar there. Now, I've chosen a different strategy (see below). Anyhow, these cookies are indecently easy to make and there are 1000 and 1 variation of what you can do to them. This is why I dedicate them to my best friend Masha :)

So, you will need 250g of soft margarine (or butter), half-cup of sugar (I took sugar powder this time to obtain a fine consistence), vanilla, 2 big egg yellows (I took 3 small ones) and 2 cups of sifted flour. The procedure is close to trivial: mix margarine with sugar, a bit of salt and vanilla, add one by one yellows and the flour. Form 4 cylinder-shaped pieces, ~4 cm in diameter and ~20 cm in length, wrap them in the cellophane film and put in the freezer for at least 3-4 hours (up to couple of months). When the time to bake comes warm up the oven to 180C and unwrap the dough (if you see ice crystals on it let it for 10 min at the room temperature), slice it with a sharp knife in 4 mm slices, put them on a layer of a backing paper (which is supposed to cover a baking tray), keep the distance between slices ~2.5 cm and bake it for 12-14 minutes (till it gets a beautiful golden color) then take it out, let it cool on a tray for some minutes and then... well, you know what to do if you read this at all!

Now, the interesting part about these cookies. The version above is a classic vanilla sable. You don't have to confine your desires to this taste, you can add whatever you feel like to the dough. This time, I've made three versions: lemon peel and lemon juice, almond and candied orange peel (pictured) and cacao and cashew. I think, I have put a bit more flour than the previous one, so the cookies are more sable (it means sandy). The ones on the picture have a very strict taste - not too sweet but odorous. They go nicely with coffee with spices.