World Peace Cookies | Dorie Greenspan
Yield: Makes about 36 cookies | Time: 12 minutes cooking
The original recipe for these cookies was given to me by my friend, Pierre Hermé, the wonderful Parisian pastry chef. In the cookies’ first incarnation, they were called Sablés Chocolats, or chocolate shortbread. In their second, the one in which chopped chocolate was added to the sweet/salty dough, they were dubbed Sables Korova and were served at the Paris restaurant of the same name. Finally, a neighbor of mine gave them the name they truly deserve: World Peace Cookies. He was convinced that if everyone in the world could have these cookies, there would be planetary peace. I hope he’s right. What I know for sure is that everyone who has these cookies smiles and smiles are pretty powerful.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons; 5 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chip-size bits, or an equal amount of store-bought chocolate mini-chips
Directions
Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together and keep them close at hand.
Working in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a handheld mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until it is soft and creamy. (If you’d like, you can make the dough by hand using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.) Add both sugars, the salt, and the vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.
Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the sifted dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated – the dough may look crumbly, but that’s fine. For the best texture, you want to work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.
Turn the dough out onto a smooth work surface, divide it in half, gather it together, and, working with one half at a time, shape the dough into a log that is 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours or for up to 3 days.
Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Have two lined baking sheets at hand.
Working with a sharp thin-bladed knife, slice rounds that are 1/2 – inch thick. (The rounds often crack as you’re cutting them – don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto the cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets leaving about 1 inch of spread space between each round and slide one of the sheets into the oven. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes – they won’t look done nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only warm, at this point, you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.
Repeat with the second sheet of cookies.
Storing: The dough can be made ahead and either chilled or frozen. In fact, if you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking – let it warm just enough so that you can slice the rounds; bake the cookies 1 minute longer. Packed airtight, baked cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 2 months.
From Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan (Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016)
Easier Method ( via Pinch and Swirl)
First sift the dry ingredients into a bowl (flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda).
Then cream the butter until fluffy in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add sugars, salt, and vanilla and mix to combine. Now, add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed until combined. Finally, add the chocolate pieces and mix, again, just until combined.
Now turn the crumbly dough onto a work surface (don’t panic when it looks like the photo below!) Press the dough into a ball then roll into a 1/2-inch thick circle. Use a dough scraper to tidy the edge of the circle. Cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch circles with a biscuit cutter, as close together as possible.
Don’t panic when your dough looks like this!
Transfer dough rounds to a parchment-lined baking sheet as you cut them out.
Cover with parchment paper (as shown below) or with plastic wrap. Freeze for 2 hours or refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.
To bake, arrange cookies 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake in an oven preheated to 325˚F for 12 minutes if the cookies are cold from the refrigerator or 13 minutes if they’re frozen. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
