We baked plenty of family favorites this holiday season: Oreo truffles, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, and peanut butter kisses. But, of course, I had to add a new recipe to our repertoire, too.
Dorie Greenspan is an accomplished food writer and cookbook author, and her World Peace cookies are all over the Internet — including inside my Bon Appétit magazine. (Find out how they got their name here.)
These French shortbreads have a generous amount of bittersweet chocolate and a touch of fleur de sel (French finishing sea salt) to yield a really intense flavor.
They’re slice-and-bake cookies, which means that after you make the dough, you roll it into logs and refrigerate it before slicing it and baking it.
Mine weren’t perfectly round, but oh, did they taste good. Just make sure you have plenty of milk nearby — you will need it.
Have you tried Dorie Greenspan’s famous cookies?
World Peace Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 11 Tbsp unsalted butter, 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 (I used fine sea salt)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli chocolate)
Directions
- Sift together flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Set aside.
- Beat butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla, and beat for 2 more minutes.
- Turn off the mixer. Add dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the mixer, and pulse at low speed about 5 times, 1-2 seconds each time. If there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple more times. Then remove the towel, and mix for about 30 seconds more, just until flour disappears. (For the best texture, work the dough as little as possible. And don’t be concerned if it looks a little crumbly.) Add chocolate and stir to incorporate.
- Turn dough onto a work surface, gather it together, and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (Dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 2 months.)
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Using a sharp thin knife, slice logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (Don’t worry if rounds crack as you’re cutting them; just squeeze the bits back into each cookie.) Arrange rounds on baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.
- Bake cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, and they won’t 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 just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.
(adapted from Dorie Greenspan)
Wasn’t the issue of Bon App w/ these cookies a good one?! I found so many things I wanted to try in it.
You guys have been cooking making machines — I’m so impressed!