Wednesday, February 4, 2009

World Peace Cookies



Looking for a delicious bite of chocolate for Valentine's Day?  Look no further that Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies.  The beauty of these cookies is that it's basically a refrigerator cookie dough so you can prepare the dough up to three days ahead, cut slices and bake them fresh when you want them.  Just look at that delicious gooey chocolate warm from the oven!

Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies

Baking: From My House to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Makes about 36 cookies

“I once said I thought these cookies, the brainchild of the Parisian pastry chef Pierre Hermé, were as important a culinary breakthrough as Toll House cookies, and I've never thought better of the statement. These butter-rich, sandy-textured slice-and-bake cookies are members of the sablé family. But, unlike classic sablés, they are midnight dark — there's cocoa in the dough — and packed with chunks of hand-chopped bittersweet chocolate. Perhaps most memorably, they're salty. Not just a little salty, but remarkably and sensationally salty. It's the salt — Pierre uses fleur de sel, a moist, off-white sea salt — that surprises, delights and makes the chocolate flavors in the cookies seem preternaturally profound.
When I included these in Paris Sweets, they were called Korova Cookies and they instantly won fans, among them my neighbor Richard Gold, who gave them their new name. Richard is convinced that a daily dose of Pierre's cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness” – Dorie Greenspan

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) 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 chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips (I use chopped Scharffen Berger Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs in mine – that gives them a nice crunch)
1. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, 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 peek — 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 crumbly. 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. (I put mine in the freezer for 15 minutes and then refrigerated for 1 hour – they turned out just fine). 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.

Getting Ready to Bake:

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

10 comments:

  1. World Peace and chocolate...doesn't that sound heavenly and it sure looks heavenly in that red bowl!

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  2. Monique was just telling me how good these are as I just bought the book.
    I must try them, Susan and yours look delicious

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  3. Susan, I used to make them regularly, but John doesn't care for the sandy texture.

    I often take them to school meetings. One time it was in the 50's or 60's and sunny. I ran a couple of errands before the meeting. The cookies became soft and gooey from the sun. I went into the meeting and immediately shared the cookies. The cookies were fabulous. There were only six of us and when the meeting ended there were only a handful left out of the entire batch.

    I think they freeze well, too.

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  4. Oh, Susan... they look delicious! (killing me with the sweets, you know!) Every time I see these cookies, I want to make them! And so pretty in your red dish!

    Oh, and I meant to tell you that your orange clock is very cute!

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  5. I heard some of you talking about these cookies before - now I will do the copy and paste and give them a try! Great photo in the cute red dish.....

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  6. They look so good! If only I wasn't afraid to bake! I just killed some corn muffins, I'm afraid of cookies! I will have to try, even a badly baked chocolate cookie has to be good ;) YOURS LOOK SUPER!!!!!!!

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  7. These look gorgeous. I adore this recipe. Hey Carol...raw dough is good too lol.

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  8. Susan, I love your orange clock. Wish I knew how to make my blog prettier :-)

    I have yet to make the World Peace cookies, so thanks for the reminder. Let there be peace on earth...

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  9. With such glowing recommendations how could I not give this recipe a try. And they are so pretty in your lovely red bowl, Susan.

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  10. Those of you who've never tried them, please do! These are so good. A new favorite, really. If you like a little crunch and deeper flavor, try to find cocoa nibs or dark chocolate with the cocoa nibs in it.

    I had made these last year, Jayne ~ no calories ;)

    Thank you all!

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I appreciate your comment!