World Peace Cookies

WORLD PEACE COOKIES

These cookies are really good. They maintain a crumbly texture and almost melt in your mouth releasing a very intense chocolate flavor. The idea is that if everyone in the world had these cookies they would stop fighting and eat cookies. Then we would have world peace.

This is a great do-ahead cookie. You form cookie logs and they are “slice and bake”. You can make the logs a couple of days ahead then just bake them when you need them. 

Fleur del Sel is a little hard to find, and in a pinch you could substitute fine sea salt. As for the bittersweet chocolate – use the good stuff. It’s worth it!

This is a Dorie Greenspan recipe and you can find several versions of this cookie on the web, but this is what we do. 

Yeild: 36 cookies

Ingredients:

1 ¼ Cups all-purpose flour

1⁄3 Cups unsweetened cocoa powder

½ Tsp baking soda

11 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature 

2⁄3 Cups packed light brown sugar

¼ Cups granulated sugar

½ Tsp fleur del sel 

1 Tsp pure vanilla extract

5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small chips (you can do this in a food processor)

Instructions:

Measure the flour and cocoa lightly. Don’t press down or heap up. Place the Cocoa, flour and baking soda in a bowl and blend with a whisk, adding air. 

This is best done with a stand mixer, but you can use 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.

Turn off the mixer. Add half the dry ingredients. Gently start the mixer on low until the dry ingredients are mostly absorbed. Add the remaining flour and mix again until the flour is absorbed.  Mix for 30 seconds more. It will look a little crumbly.   Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. It will have some dryer sections and some places with more chocolate. Working with one half at a time, knead the dough until it has a consistent texture throughout. 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.)

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

Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/4 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.

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. You can sprinkle them with a little extra Fleur de Sel at this point if you want, but do not attempt to remove the cookies from the baking sheet until they have cooled a while.  They are fragile at this point, but when they cool they are sturdier.