Blackberry Heart Sablees

This is a Valentine’s Day recipe that I posted two years ago, but it’s still so perfect and the heart shaped sablees are so adorable, I jsut couldn’t resist re-posting it.  Plus, it gave me some much needed time.  Truth be told, I am in the home stretches to finish the second book, and have been prepping for my presentation at the Gluten-Free Allergen Free Expo in San Francisoco tomorrow, so I hope you understand the spot I’m in.  I still haven’t figured out how to take my kitchen with me when I travel. 

Blackberry Heart Sablees

But in all seriousness, I want to tell all of you how grateful I am to be able to continue to do my life’s work and to be able to share it with all of you! 

“Happy Gluten-Free Valentine’s Day to all of you!  May you get to wrap your arms around your favorite sweet heart and make them some of these blackberry heart shaped sabless while you’re at it.”

  • 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons glutinous rice flour
  • ¾ cup cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup +2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • ¼ cup sorghum flour or gluten free oat flour
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 knife points of kosher salt
  • 1 ½ teaspoons guar gum
  • 16 tablespoons cultured unsalted butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 egg yolk

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients with the cultured butter and mix until the butter is the size of small peas. Add the eggs and mix just until the dough folds in on itself.

Using a plastic pastry scrapper, turn the dough out onto a clean counter that has been dusted with glutinous rice flour.

Knead with the palm of your hand several times until you have a leather smooth ball. Divide the dough into two sections, quickly shape each section into a semi-flat disk, and wrap tightly with cellophane.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before rolling out the dough and up to three days or freeze for three weeks.

For this recipe, you will only need one disk of the dough, so store the second disk for your purposes.

If you don’t have a stand mixer, make the dough thusly:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a spacious bowl with a few turns of a whisk. Add the diced cultured butter and begin to cut it in with a pastry cutter, using a butter-knife to clean out the spokes when necessary. Repeat until the mix resembles a heap of damp, engorged seeds. Whisk the eggs and fold them in using two plastic pastry scrappers. Keep folding until you have a firm, somewhat sticky ball of dough.

Turn the dough onto a very clean surface that has been lightly dusted with glutinous rice flour and follow the above instructions.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a cookie sheet with a silicon-baking mat.

Roll out your dough on a counter dusted with glutinous rice flour and then take your 3” heart shaped cookie cutter and cut out 12-3” hearts.

Perforate the tops of the cookies with a wooden skewer. Transfer the cookies to the cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes. The cookies are done when they just barely take on color.

Creme Anglaise

Makes about 2 1/2 cups creme anglaise.

2 1/2 cups fresh blackberries

1 tablespoon water

6 egg yolks

1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups whole milk

In a non-reactive saucepan, heat the blackberries with the tablespoon of water and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Cook the berries down for 15 minutes. The berries will loose their color and begin to break down. Pass the berries through a fine-mashed sieve, pressing on the fruit to release the juices. Whisk in 1/4 cup of sugar to the reserved the juice. Set aside.

Now heat the milk until just before the boil. Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar into the egg yolks. Measure out 2/3 cup of the blackberry syrup and whisk it into the egg yolks. Temper the egg yolks with the warm milk, whisking the entire time. Return the creme to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove from t

The Filling

Makes 1 1/2 cups whipped cream.

 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup sifted confectioner’s sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups fresh blackberries

 In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream until it begins to hold very soft peaks. Add the confectioner’s sugar and the vanilla and continue to mix until firm. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a #21 Wilton stainless steel pastry tip.

Assemble

Take one of your sable cookies and pipe the chantilly cream along the perimeter of the cookie. Pipe a dollop in the center of the cookie. Now fill the heart with four to five blackberries. Now take a second cookie and pipe cream on the bottom of the cookie. Gently press the cookie on top of the blackberries, being careful to line the cookie up with the first one. Repeat with the above instructions. Top the second tier with a third cookie. Carefully pour about 1/3 cup of the creme anglaise around the sable and serve with champagne and a mixture of blackberries and raspberries.