
For anyone who knows me, it's no secret where I fall on the political spectrum. As you might imagine, I’ve been feeling a little emotional since the 2016 election. I wake up every morning with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and I'm having difficulty trying to shake this feeling of impending doom. When I have anxiety, the best therapy for me, outside of exercising, is baking. Baking always lifts my spirits. So this morning, I decided to take a large dose of my favorite medicine and start baking cookies for Christmas.
What better cookie to start my morning off baking than with these hopeful and inspiring World Peace cookies. No, I didn’t make that name up. This very intense and rich chocolate butter cookie is really called a World Peace cookie. You might recognize this type of cookie by its more common name, a French sable. According to Dorie Greenspan, eating one of these cookies a day would most certainly ensure world peace. Well Dorie, with the results of the 2016 election, our country and the world are in dire need of these cookies. I would surely make Donald Trump about 122 dozen of these world peace cookies so he could eat one a day for the next 4 years if I thought it would help. Unfortunately, I fear nothing can help us now. In the meantime, please experience a little bit of heaven and be inspired to spread love and world peace by having one of these cookies.
Recipe by Dorie Greenspan: Baking from My Home to Yours
Makes about 24 to 28 cookies
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon of fleur de sell or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 5 ounces extra-bittersweet chocolate (do not exceed 85% cacao), chopped into chips (no pieces bigger than 1/3 inch), or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
Instructions
Step 1: Sift flour, cocoa, and baking soda into medium bowl.
Step 2: Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth and creamy but not fluffy.
Step 3: Add both sugars, vanilla, and salt; beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Step 4: Turn off mixer. Pour in dry ingredients, drape a kitchen town 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.
Step 5: 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 on low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears in 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.
Step 6: Toss in the chopped chocolate; mix just to distribute (if dough doesn't come together, knead lightly in bowl to form ball).
Step 7: Divide dough in half. Place each half on sheet of plastic wrap. Form each into 1-1/2-inch-diameter log. Wrap each in plastic; chill until firm, about 3 hours. The dough can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled. There are 4 logs in the picture because I doubled the recipe. Also, I like a llittle bigger cookie so I made each log about 2 inches in diameter.
Step 8: Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using thin sharp knife, cut logs crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds. Space 1 inch apart on prepared sheets.
Step 9: Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies appear dry (cookies will not be firm or golden at edges), 11 to 12 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool.
And here is Dorie, the pastry queen herself, and her World Peace Cookies.
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