Tuesdays with Dorie: World Peace Cookies

It's hard to believe that I've been baking along with the crew at Tuesdays with Dorie for nearly a year now - and even harder to believe that this week it is finally my turn to choose the recipe. We have so many bakers on board now that this chance isn't likely to come up again. For a while, I was worried that my week would come a little too close for comfort to my baby's due date, which could have thrown things for a loop. But a few bakers withdrew, and bingo! I'm picking in the first week of February. I hope everyone liked these as much as I did - I know the addition of sea salt seems a little exotic, but it really does make these irresistible, doesn't it?

I dithered for a while over what to pick - do I force everyone to make bread pudding, even though some people have a weird thing about it? (Some people have a weird thing about sea salt with their chocolate, too.) Do I go for the cover cake? (Thankfully, Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater has us making it later this month.) Yet I always thought that if the World Peace Cookies were still up for grabs when my turn came around, my choice would be made. And here they are.

These cookies (originally called Korova Cookies in Paris Sweets) were the creation of French pastry god Pierre Hermé. In the recipe's introduction, Dorie shares how the cookies got their new name - her neighbor, Richard Gold, is "convinced that a daily dose of Pierre's cookies is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness." The secret, of course, is a healthy dose of fleur de sel or sea salt. I used some inexpensive fleur de sel from McCormick's spices; I'm curious to see what other bakers used and if it made a big difference.

I made these for the first time about a year ago, and at the time I had a lot of trouble getting the crumbly dough to form sliceable logs. The baked cookies were delicious, just not very attractive.

This time, I read my P&Qs and found a couple of tips from other bakers which made my latest attempt much more successful:

1) Remove a tablespoon of flour. I don't actually know if this is what helped my dough hold together, but because I use the dip-and-sweep (rather than weighing) method to measure flour, maybe that little bit of extra flour was contributing to the crumbliness.
2) Don't be squeamish about mixing that dough - don't overmix, but it's OK to mix enough to get a nice, uniform dough.

This time, my dough rolled easily into neat little logs and went into the freezer for 2 hours. Slice, bake, and...pure chocolate bliss. My husband and his parents, who were over to watch the Super Bowl, could not guess the secret ingredient, but loved them anyway. I think I want to make some more and stash them in the freezer for all the middle-of-the-night feedings in my future. They say chocolate consumption makes for a mellow baby, so it can't hurt...

Thanks for baking along with me this week!

World Peace Cookies
Baking: From My Home to Yours, 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 vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Makes about 36 cookies.

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

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.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, 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.

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.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Working with 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.

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.

SERVING: The cookies can be eaten when they are warm or at room temperature — I prefer them at room temperature, when the textural difference between the crumbly cookie and the chocolate bits is greatest — and are best suited to cold milk or hot coffee.

STORING: Packed airtight, cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Next week: Shari of Whisk: a food blog chose Floating Islands (pages 401-402).

Last week: Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread