Sweet Pastry

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature but still waxy
• Large pinch of salt
• ⅓ cup

Work this pastry at room temperature with a wooden spoon. Cream the butter until plastic, neither soft nor oily. Stir the salt and sugar into the butter until the mixture looks even textured but the crystals of sugar are still very visible. Add the flour, flattening it into the butter-sugar mixture with the spoon; finally add the egg and flavoring and mix until homogeneous, no more than 1½ to 2