World Peace Cookies: Sweet and Salty Chocolate Decadence

My Sunday baking marathon continued with these little chocolate gems:

World Peace Cookies

I’ve made these cookies many times over the past couple of years. I can pretty safely say they are my favorites.

They’re small, buttery, deep, dark chocolate sables with bittersweet chocolate pieces. But that’s not all. A hearty dose of fleur de sel heightens their flavor and keeps them from being cloyingly sweet. They flood your taste buds with a mix of sweet, salty, and bitter; it's pure cookie joy.

World Peace Cookies have an interesting history. This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan and can be found here. It was Greenspan’s neighbor, Richard, who renamed them World Peace Cookies after deciding that there would be world peace if everyone ate them daily.

Originally, however, they were called Korova Cookies in her book Paris Sweets. Korova was a milk bar in Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and the name of Pierre Hermé’s restaurant, where Hermé first created them. Greenspan adapted her recipe from his.

If you’re a lover of Paris and/or macarons, you’ll know that Pierre Hermé makes, arguably, the best macarons in Paris and, perhaps, the world.

He is known for his mastery of classic flavors, but also for complex, interesting, adventurous, and sometimes even whimsical combinations like white truffle and hazelnut, wasabi and grapefruit, and even foie gras.

World Peace Cookies have that same sense of mastery. Every ingredient is so beautifully balanced with the others that they come together to create something divine.

Actually, when I was making them on Sunday I started sifting the flour and cocoa together when I noticed what looked like a yin-yang being formed.

It was a perfect metaphor for these sweet and salty cookies.

Maybe this totally negates the whole “world peace” aspect of them, but when I eat them all I can think of is “Mmmm. It’s a perfect chocolate bomb in my mouth.” (Do you hear Tom Jones in your head singing “chocolate bomb”  to “Sex Bomb” the way I do right now? If you didn’t, then you might now. You’re welcome!)

The recipe itself is really easy and quick to make. The only trick is to make sure you don’t over-mix the dough when you add the flour/cocoa mixture. The dough should seem very crumbly/sandy before you add the chocolate pieces.

From there, it’s fairly easy to shape it into logs.

Once the dough cools in the fridge, you cut it into rounds and bake them. The rounds might fall apart a little when you cut them, but just press them back together. I usually end up with about 52 cookies since I make the logs a bit thinner than the recipe suggests.

Once they’re baked, I dare you to eat just one. Forget potato chips. These are so much more enjoyable and decadent. I don’t know if they could bring about world peace, but I’m sure they would at least put a smile on a lot of faces, which makes them perfect for sharing.

I've also found that sprinkling some fleur de sel top of these Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies makes a nice sweet and salty cookie that reminds me a little of World Peace Cookies. The addition of steel-cut oats also adds a really interesting chew and crunch to their texture. If you love the World Peace ones you could give those a try, too.

Tomorrow I'll post about the lemon cookies I made and finish up this mini baking series.

Comforting Magic: Nick's Supernatural Brownies

Sorry for the lack of updates. I had a few unexpected surprises last week that kept me from being able to do my usual posts.

On Thursday, I attended a funeral. So this weekend my mom made a few batches of her fantastic lasagna to give to the family and I spent 5 hours on Sunday baking my little heart out. I was planning on making brownies for them, but my aunt got a hold of me and put in her own requests.

I started thinking a lot about life, loss, love, and food.

Baking is an indulgence. Frankly, no one needs sugar, but it can be a simple, yet tangible symbol of care and comfort during and between the best and worst of times.

I absolutely believe love and good intention must be a part of baking and cooking. I’m sure many will think that’s corny or silly.

Baking is a science. It’s chemistry. Follow the recipe and you should end up with a yummy results. But I’ve noticed over the years that my baking always ends up being a bit off if I’m grumpy or unfocused. Love is that intangible, magical extra ingredient.

Right now my go-to, must-share, chock full ‘o love and comfort recipe is Nick Malgieri’s Supernatural Brownies—and, like the name suggests, they have their own supernatural, intangible quality.

Nick’s Supernatural Brownies

With all of that being said, it’s confession time. I usually hate brownies. It’s a longstanding hatred that goes way back to kindergarten. I was sick one day and someone brought in brownies with nuts (gack! Nuts! Strike one.) for their birthday. Nothing dramatic happened, but, since then, I’ve just associated being ill with eating brownies.

These brownies, however, live up to their name. They are supernaturally, otherworldly, and fantastically chocolatey, gooey, chewy, and dense.

I, a brownie hater, love them, but other people love them. I actually had to hide the pan from a couple of people at a party to make sure the other guests had their fair share. I even overheard some murmuring about filling pockets and purses. My aunt actually puts in what have become bimonthly requests.

The recipe is incredibly easy. All I can really say is try it! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

On Sunday, I ended up making 3 batches at once.

Seeing all that butter and chocolate at the start was shocking and surprisingly off-putting.

Then, it melted and I fantasized about swimming in it. Amazing how the mind works, huh?

If you’ve ever wondered how much a Kitchen-Aid mixer holds, it’s exactly 3 batches of Nick’s Supernatural Brownies.

That’s 6 sticks of butter, 24 oz of chocolate, 12 eggs, 3 cups of sugar, 3 cups of brown sugar, 6 tsp vanilla, and 1.5 tsp of salt.

I had to transfer it to a large bowl to add the 3 cups of flour, though.

The trick with these brownies is that you have to let them sit overnight once they are baked to let them become “supernatural.” They’re great just out of the oven, but something magical happens overnight in the fridge. Just do it. Trust me!

Also, please don’t be tempted to mess with them on you first batch. Don’t fancy them up with anything. Don’t put mini Reese’s cups, or caramel, or ribbons of raspberry, or chai spices in them.

For the love of all that is delicious and sweet: Just make them the way the Malgieri intended before you go mucking around with the recipe. If you want to mess with them after the first batch, be my guest!

Most importantly, whatever you do, just make sure to share them with someone.

Tomorrow and Wednesday I'll share the other recipes I made. One is my favorite cookie of all time and the other is a cookie that's perfect for spring/summer.

Homemade Mint Chocolate-Covered Coffee Beans

In my Christmas stocking I got a tube of mint chocolate-covered espresso beans. They were so good that I would savor just a couple every day to make them last as long as possible. Well, a couple of weeks ago as I was getting one, the bottom fell out of the tube. I watched helplessly as they all scattered across my floor.

After I stopped shaking my fists at the sky and crying out "nooooooo," the thought of eating them anyway did cross my mind. 3-second rule right? Then, I remembered how much dog and cat hair I vacuum up every week. "But I could rinse them," I thought.

Don't worry, I didn't. I came to my senses and they all went into the trash as I whimpered.

The next day, as I mourned those beans, I realized that I could try to make some. It ended up being a fairly easy experiment. Here's how I did it.

Since this was an experiment, I used whatever chocolate I already had. If you're a chocolate/coffee snob, by all means use whatever you prefer, it will only make them better.

First, I pulled out all the ingredients and tools:

• Chocolate chips
• Coffee or espresso beans
• Mint extract
• Cocoa Powder (optional)
• Medium pot
• Medium metal bowl
• Heat resistant spatula/wooden spoon
• Slotted spoon or skimmer
• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• A fork
• Mesh strainer/sifter (only if coating them in cocoa powder)
• Small bowl (only if coating them in cocoa powder)
• A jar/container to put them in

I was originally going to cover them in chocolate and drizzle them in white chocolate, I but decided against it in the end. My Christmas beans were dipped in both, so if that sounds good to you, go for it.

My measurements this time were:

• 1 c. chocolate chips
• 1/2 c. coffee beans
• 1/2 tsp mint extract (This wasn't quite enough for me. I'll bump it up next time.)

I began by making a double boiler.  I just filled a pot with a couple of inches of water and put a medium-sized metal bowl on top, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.

I then put that on the stove over medium heat and added the chips. I forgot to add the extract at this time which caused the chocolate to seize later. Make sure to add the extract with the chips, but I'll show you how I "fixed" it.

I used a heat-resistant silicone spatula to stir the chocolate constantly as it melted, a wooden spoon would be fine, too.

If you forget to add the extract at the beginning, the chocolate will seize and look like this:

Don't panic and don't add any other liquids. You have two options. Start over or add a bit of fat to bring it back. Adding fat, like butter or shortening, will make it more like a ganache. I chose the latter and added tiny bits of shortening until the chocolate was smooth again. Doing this will change the way it sets up and make the chocolate a bit softer, but it worked out in the end.

After the chocolate was completely melted and smooth, I pulled the double boiler off of the heat. Then, I threw in my 1/2 cup of beans and stirred them around until they were well-covered.

Once all the beans were covered, I pulled them out in groups with the stainless skimmer. They drained for a few seconds over the bowl and then I transferred them one by one to the parchment-covered baking sheet by using a fork to push them off.

Once the beans were all on the parchment-covered baking sheet, I let them set up a bit. If your chocolate didn't seize you can let them harden completely for a couple of hours. At that point you can be done and put them in a jar. Or you can do the process again and coat them in a layer of mint-flavored white chocolate, drizzle them with white chocolate, or even roll them in cocoa like I did.

Since my chocolate was more of a ganache, it was softer and I knew it would not harden into beautiful shiny chocolate. I could have left it to harden as much as it could, but then they would melt quickly in the hand. What I did was wait until it was set-up/substantial enough to handle but still malleable, rolled them into nice bean shapes, and then sifted them in cocoa powder.

Once they were all hand-rolled, to coat them in a fine dusting of cocoa powder, I put groups of them into a sifter, added cocoa powder and then sifted the excess out into a cereal bowl.

That's all there is to it! To finish up, I put mine into a small mason jar. Now I can enjoy them without worrying that the bottom will fall out. The great thing about making your own is that they're pretty easy and you control the ingredients. Use your favorite chocolate, favorite beans, and experiment with flavors. After making these, inspiration hit and  I now want to try making caramel covered coffee beans.