World Peace Cookies
I may have just made the world’s best tasting cookie. It’s part chocolate sable and part chocolate shortbread. World Peace Cookies have been on my list to bake for a very long time. I woke up a couple days ago and suddenly remembered them. The horrific loss of life atrocities currently going on in the Middle East may have subconsciously been telling me that today was the day I would finally make World Peace Cookies.
These cookies are said to have come to America from cookbook author and James Beard award winner Dorie Greenspan after tasting what were called Korova cookies in France. The name Korova comes from French baker and chocolatier Pierre Hermé who named these cookies after his restaurant of the same name. Dorie published her version of Sablés Korova in her 2002 cookbook Paris Sweets and then later renamed them World Peace Cookies in a subsequent cookbook called Baking from Home. For more of the story, check out The Untold Truth of World Peace Cookies.
What makes these cookies so addictive?
It's hard to believe that these insanely delicious cookies have been in existence in the U.S. for over 20 years. A bit crumbly like a shortbread cookie with a chewy bite from the brown sugar, World Peace Cookies aren’t overly sweet. Addictive is what they are. If you’ve never tasted them, you’re missing out. They are an easy and forgiving cookie to make. You basically mix the ingredients together, roll the dough into two logs, chill in the fridge, slice, bake and eat!
I used this recipe from Dorie Greenspan, the one in her Baking with Dorie book. She writes that the recipe was considered "revolutionary" at the time because of its combination of American and French techniques. Inspired by American chocolate chip cookies, the cookies include brown sugar which was uncommon in French baking. The cookie technique is more like a French sable – which translates to “sand” or “sandy” — and explains the somewhat sandy, crumbly texture. Also, back then, sprinkling sea salt on top of cookies wasn’t a thing.
Use high-quality ingredients
For the best results, it always comes down to high quality ingredients. Here’s what you’ll need:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 Tablespoons (11 Tbs, 5 ½ oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into random sized bits
Some notes on these ingredients:
Flour – I like the Organic Unbleached all-purpose flour from Costco. It has an 11.5% protein content, but I like that I can buy two 10 lb bags! For comparison, Gold Medal AP flour is 10-11%.
Dutch processed cocoa – Use the best cocoa you can find. I use Valrhona Dutch Processed French Unsweetened Cocoa Powder when I can. Although, full transparency, I was a little short ofa third of a cup so I made up for it with a tablespoon or so of Rodelle Baking Cocoa, which is also wonderful. I went to all three little grocers in my small beach town and no one had any unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa other than Hershey’s (which in my mind is not top notch, sorry). I also like Ghirardelli ,which my store usually carries.
Butter – Kerigold unsalted is my gold standard. I scoop this up at Costco – when and if they actually have the unsalted variety in stock. My outside fridge is basically my butter repository.
Salt – I used Jacobsen Pure Italian Fine Sea Salt in the cookie dough and sprinkled Jacobsen Pure Flake Sea Salt on top before going in the oven. Maldon Sea Salt Flakes is my other favorite, but I often use Jacobsen’s cause it’s down the coast from me in Netarts. Just don’t ever use that iodized stuff!
Chocolate – Again, my store inventory is limited. I used a 70% bittersweet baking bar of Divine Chocolate that I’ve been happy with in the past and my local grocer always carries. I also like that the bar is 5.3 oz vs having to buy two 4 oz bars. I threw that extra .3 oz in the dough. You betcha! Theo Chocolate and Ghiradelli baking bars are also good. I sometimes use Trader Joe’s giant baking bar. Use what you like!
I also like that these cookies aren’t huge. The recipe says it makes 36 cookies, but mine yielded 28 … guess my measurements weren’t exact! But everything turned out just fine. I baked one sheet at a time on 325 degrees for 12 minutes. I always find it difficult to get a log perfectly round. So after taking the dough (wrapped in plastic) from the fridge, I roll it across my cutting board to round it out. When you cut the logs into ½” rounds, the chunks of chocolate will invariably break up. Not to worry, just push it back together. Mine always have one square side, the side against the cutting board. You can reshape the cookies with your hands – or not worry about it! When they came out of oven, I used the cookie-scooting method (shown below) and nudged the sides back into a round shape. However, next time I think I’ll make them square, just because. Dorie also says you can roll out the dough and cut them into shapes, but that sounds like extra work!
World Peace Cookies 2.0
I have the Dorie Greenspan book Baking with Dorie: Sweet, Salty & Simple, which includes a new variation on page 160 called World Peace Cookies 2.0. She added rye flour, cocoa nibs, pepper and freeze-dried raspberries. I also came across a version with smoked Saigon cinnamon. So, looks like you can play around with the flavor if you like. I’m leaning toward the tried-and-true original, but a touch of freeze-dried berries (raspberries, strawberries or even blueberries) could be good and look pretty too.
Apparently, September 21 is International Day of Peace. We missed it guys, by a month! We have a lot of catching up to do. Everyone—go bake World Peace Cookies.