World Peace Cookies

These cookies are called World Peace Cookies.  I made them today for my dad’s Christmas party at work.  For those of you who don’t know, these are called chocolate sables, or French shortbreads because there is more brown sugar than white, and they are more chewy than most shortbreads.  They are light and sandy like a buttery cookie, but midnight chocolatey like you would expect from a fudge brownie.  The hint of fleur de sel, or fine sea salt makes these salty, and a perfect and addictive combination for these chocolatey cookies.

This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan, author of “Baking:  From My Home to Yours” cookbook.  She was given this recipe by Pierre Herme, who created this cookie for a restaurant in Paris called Korova.  Originally Dorie named these sables Korova Cookies, but her neighbor loved these cookies so much that he said, “in our house, we call them World Peace Cookies, because we’re convinced that a daily dose of the cookies is all that’s needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness”.

Enjoy!

Combine the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 stick plus 3 tbsp (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp fleur de sel or 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

1.  Sift together the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.

2.  Working wit a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy.  Add both sugars, the salt, and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

3.  Turn off the mixer.  Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time.  Take a peak- if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel.  Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough – for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumby.  Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

4.  Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half.  Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours.  (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.  If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking – just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

5.  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.

6.  Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick.  (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them – don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.)  Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

7.  Bake the cookies one sheet at a time 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 just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature..

Yield:  36 cookies

“Baking:  From My Home to Yours” by Dorie Greenspan