Easy French Butter Biscuits

Galette Nantaises

This Easy French Butter Biscuits galette recipe is easy and quick to make. It is a tasty, light cookie that only requires 5 ingredients. The dough is made with commonly stocked kitchen supplies and is similar to shortbread biscuit recipes in there make up and texture. They make a great anytime snack or dessert.

About Easy French Butter Biscuits

In North America, the name biscuits more commonly refers to a soft, leavened quick bread which is similar to an unsweetened scone.

But in the UK and France, the name usually describes a hard sweet "cookie".

This particular recipe is called Nantes biscuits in France because they are from Nantes, a city on the Loire River in the Upper Brittany region of western France.

These little cookies or biscuits, whichever you like to call them, are a delight with your morning coffee, a snack at any time of the day, or as a light dessert.

The kids love them too, as they are just scrumptious and can be made in many fun shapes. But they go fast, so be prepared to make more!

With only 5 ingredients most of us already have on hand, it can be a real spur-of-the-moment satisfaction!

Just mix the ingredients, choose your shape by piping or cookie cutter style, bake, and you are done!

Key Ingredients

• all-purpose flour
• unsalted butter
• sugar
• ground almonds
• egg yolks
• salt (is the 6th)

How To Make Easy French Butter Biscuits

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl, and then measure out what you need. It is important to sift the flour if you want a nice, light melt-in-your-mouth cookie.
2. With the butter that has been finely chopped, rub the butter with light fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs (don't pack the butter and flour tightly together).
3. Add the sugar, salt, and ground almonds. Again, mixing with a light hand.
4. Add the 2 egg yolks and mix them into the dough until it is smooth.
5. Grease the cookie sheet. I like coconut oil for greasing baking pans. Or line sheet with parchment paper.

Shaping The Easy French Butter Biscuits

Method One

1. Place the dough in the refrigerator for about 1 hour to rest if you want to make cut-out cookies.
2. Then take it out of the fridge and roll out the dough on a lightly floured board until it is about ⅛ inch thick.
3. Use a small pastry cutter to cut out small round biscuits or any shape you like.
4. Place them on a lightly greased baking tray.

Method Two

1. You can pipe the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet instead of cutting it out. If you decide to shape your biscuits this way, don't put the dough into the refrigerator to firm up. 
2. If you do discover that the piped cookies before baking are not holding their shape, then chill them for short periods until they are the right consistency. Easy to pipe and holds its shape.

To Finish Off Before Baking Easy French Butter Biscuits

• Brush lightly with egg or milk, which will produce a light glaze.
• Score the tops with a knife or a fork. (For cut-out cookies only.)
• Sprinkle a little ground almonds, and dust lightly with icing sugar.
• Or dust with granulated sugar. (Dye a little sugar different colors to sprinkle on.)

How To Bake Easy French Butter Biscuits

• Bake in a hot oven 375°F/191°C/Gas 5 for about 6-8 minutes for small cookies, 9-10 minutes for large cookies, or until they are golden brown around the edges.
• Take them out of the oven and place the cookie sheet on a cooling rack, letting it cool for 2-3 minutes before removing the cookies to the rack to completely cool.

💡Expert Chef Tips

• These are wonderful versatile cookies which can be made into cut out cookies of any shape you wish. Great for Christmas treats, Halloween, birthdays, any special occasion you need them for.
• You can also pipe the dough onto a cookie sheet in a swirl, squiggles, circles, it's time to be creative and using any tip in the piping set to make super decorative treats. The only thing to ensure is that all the cookies are roughly the same size and thickness so they bake at the same time. You don't want to have smaller ones burning while waiting for the larger biscuits to bake.
• If you decide to pipe the cookies instead of cutting them out you don't need to put the dough into the refrigerator to cool, as the dough needs to be flexible and easy to work with.
• If you do discover that the piped cookies before baking are not holding their shape then scoop them back in the bowl and chill it for short periods of time until it is the right consistency.

🔄Substitutions For Easy French Butter Biscuits

I have not tried substituting the all-purpose flour or the ground almonds, but I see no reason why this would not work. The only one I would caution about is coconut flour, as it is very dry and will absorb all the moisture of the egg yolk to unsatisfactory results. If you do try a replacement, please let me know in the comments below or use the contact form.