World Peace Cookies by Pierre Herme and Dorie Greenspan

Chef Pierre Herme has a cutting edge restaurant in Paris where he developed this cookie, and Dorie tested and translated the recipe for the American kitchen. It’s a buttery cocoa dough with pockets of chocolate throughout, and a soft, sandy texture. Dorie’s neighbor loved these so much that she told her a daily dose of these cookies could inspire world peace! Using the best quality chocolate is important, and over-baking them is about all you can do to ruin them.

Dorie is world famous for her 12 cookbooks (2 were cook book of the year!), her 4 James Beard awards, and the numerous famous chefs she has helped compose their recipes, including Daniel Boulud and Julia Child. She claims she burned her parents kitchen down when she was 12, and then didn’t cook again until she was married. She gave up working on a doctorate in gerontology to bake cookies in a restaurant basement, a job she was fired from!

I found her instructions to be so precise – almost like a beloved aunt who so wanted you to get this right. Her new cookbook, “Dories Cookies” is already on the best seller list and contains the best of her 300 favorite cookies recipes! And guess which cookie in on the cover????

1 1/4 cup (175 grams) all-purpose flour

1/3 cup (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 stick plus 3 Tbs. (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cups (120 grams) packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup (50 grams)granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. fleur del sel or 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

5 ounces (150 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips (no pieces bigger than 1/3 inch), or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Note: If measuring by volume, it’s important to measure the flour and cocoa lightly, as follows: Stir flour briefly in the container or bag, spoon into the measuring cup until it’s heaped above the rim, then level it with a straight-edged knife or spatula. If you dip the measuring cup into the container, you’ll have more flour and cocoa and a drier, crumblier, more difficult dough.

Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with the 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 dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the machine 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 best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added and don’t be concerned if the dough is 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 a 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 have frozen the dough, your 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 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rouds 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 cookies.) 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 cooking 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.

Note: This was our Rose Bowl party dessert, but I can’t give you the recipe for the fabulous toffee shown with the cookies. It was a secret recipe handed down from Aunt Hattie to Kim, who makes up for not sharing it by giving it to everyone at Christmas time. Fine with me!!