These salted chocolate sablé cookies are dense, buttery, and crumbly with a slight bitterness from the dark chocolate and dimension from the salt.

Many chocolate sablé cookies on scattered on baking sheet

French sablé cookies are known for their crumbly and "sandy" texture, as the French translation of the name suggests. They are very similar to shortbread cookies but a little more dense and rich.

These salted chocolate sablé cookies use salted butter instead of my regularly used unsalted butter which gives them a little bit more flavour and dimension. Because of the dark chocolate, they are not too sweet. Depending on the dark chocolate you use, they will have a slight bitterness to them which I personally love. To me, these are the perfect "grown-up" cookie.

How to make salted chocolate sablé cookies

Mix dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream wet ingredients: In a mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter, sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer until creamy.

Create crumbly dough: Add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed until it becomes crumbly. Mix in the chopped chocolate until distributed.

Press dough together: Pour the dough out onto the counter and press the crumbs together with your hands until it sticks together.

Form dough into logs: Divide in half and form each half into a log shape about 2" wide and 6" in length. Place each log onto a separate sheet of plastic wrap. Fold the wrap over the log and roll against the counter to create a cylindrical shape. Flatten the ends of each log. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight until solid.

Pressing chocolate cookie dough together into logs

Cut out cookie rounds: Unwrap the chilled logs and use a serrated knife to cut ½" discs out. This dough is very crumbly so the cookies may break apart while cutting but you can just press them back together.

Bake: Place cookie rounds on the baking sheet with 1-2" between each cookie and bake cookies at 350F for about 15 mins. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Decorate: Melt 30g of chocolate and transfer to a small piping bag or ziploc bag with the tip cut off. Drizzle the chocolate across each cookie and sprinkle with flaky salt before it hardens.

A bite taken out of a chocolate sablé cookie

Tips for success

Definitely use salted butter in this recipe. The cookies won't be too salty, I promise. It's a mild difference but it gives the cookies slightly more flavour than unsalted butter. I added extra flaked salt to mine because I like them distinctly salted.
This is a crumbly dough that needs to be pressed firmly to come together. Don't be afraid if the dough looks too dry and sandy at first. It just needs to be pressed together and chilled.
Use a sharp, serrated knife when cutting out the cookie rounds from the logs straight from the fridge and go slowly. The cookies may break apart but just press them back together.
Keep cookies chilled in the fridge while waiting for the first sheet to bake. You want to bake the cookies straight from the fridge so that they keep their shape and don't spread.
When the cookies are fresh out of the oven, you can use a utensil or your fingers (be careful, they are hot!) to push in any misshaped cookie edges to form more uniform circles.