Salers Squares: my simple recipe for these traditional Cantal biscuits

I discovered square biscuits during a visit to Salers, a village in the Cantal region that has the knack of making you hungry just by looking at the shop windows. There, they talk about Salers specialties (cakes, but also the famous cheese…) with quiet seriousness: no need to exaggerate, the traditional pastries speak for themselves.

These square biscuits are exactly that: a simple, buttery, regional French biscuit, both crispy on the edges and slightly softer in the center.

To stay true to the traditional Auvergne recipe for Carrés de Salers, I stick to a very family-friendly base: flour, butter, sugar, eggs… and I add a little local touch that works wonderfully with Auvergne, without betraying its authenticity: a bit of chestnut flour (optional, but really nice). This gives it a nutty flavor that evokes the mountain regions.

In short, if you were looking for a recipe for square Salers biscuits that you can recreate as homemade biscuits on a Wednesday afternoon, you've come to the right place!

What I love is that this dessert requires neither a complicated robot nor any fancy technique. You mix, you spread, you cut into squares with a knife (obviously), and the oven does the rest.

This is the kind of Auvergne biscuit that fits just as well in a lunchbox as on a dessert plate with a compote.

And let's be honest: successfully making a Cantal recipe at home immediately evokes the feeling of home cooking. Salers square biscuits are an authentic, rustic, and delightful recipe, perfect for an afternoon snack with character!

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Salers Squares

Recipe by Nathalie Laplace

5.0 based on 1 vote(s)

Type of dish: dessertKitchen: FrenchDifficulty: easy

Portions

4

people

Preparation

14

minutes

Cooking

22

minutes

Calories

572

kcal

Total time

36

minutes

Golden brown square biscuits, simple and rustic, just the way we like them in Cantal! My Salers Squares will be perfect for afternoon tea, and will have a buttery aroma with a hint of chestnut.

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Ingredients

• 220 g of wheat flour

• 30g of chestnut flour

• 120g of semi-salted butter (at room temperature )

• 90 g of sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 egg yolk

• 1 teaspoon of baking powder (4 g per teaspoon)

• 1 tablespoon of milk

• 1 apple (in small cubes, optional but very good)

• 1 pear (diced, optional)

• 1 pinch of vanilla powder

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Preparation steps

• Preheat the oven to 175°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
• In a bowl, work the semi-salted butter with the sugar until you obtain a creamy texture (using a spoon works very well).
• Add the egg and the yolk, then mix just enough to homogenize.
• Incorporate the wheat flour, chestnut flour, and yeast. Mix: the dough should become soft but not sticky. Add milk to soften it if necessary.
• If you choose the fruity version, add the small diced apple and pear. Mix gently so as not to crush the fruit.
• Place the dough on the baking paper. Roll it out between two sheets of paper (easier, and zero flour everywhere) to about 1 cm thick.
• Using a knife, even out the edges and then cut into squares of approximately 4 cm. Space them slightly apart (they will spread a little).
• Bake for 20 to 22 minutes: the edges should be golden brown and the top barely colored.
• Let them cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack to finish drying and stay nice and crispy.

📊 Nutritional Information

1 serving (approx. 125 g)

* RDA = Recommended Daily Allowance

📝 Notes

This recipe allows the Salers cheese squares to be stored for 5 days in a metal tin (with a paper towel at the bottom). To restore their crispness, bake them for 4 minutes at 160°C (325°F) and then let them cool on a wire rack.

💡 Chef's Tips

For crispier biscuits, roll the dough out a little thinner (7-8 mm) and keep an eye on the color towards the end of baking. If your butter is very soft, chill the dough in the refrigerator for 8 minutes before cutting: your Salers Squares will be neater!

🔄 Variations

• Authentic Salers squares: remove apple and pear, and replace the chestnut flour with 30g of wheat flour.
• For a more rustic recipe: replace 20g of sugar with 20g of brown sugar for a caramelized note.

Nathalie Laplace

Food writer for the Simple & Bon website. Passionate about healthy cooking and especially salads, slow-cooked or oven-baked recipes.