World Peace Cookies

 "But Bailey," I hear you cry, "Why on Earth are there only two cookies in these pictures?" Well, friends, it's because these cookies were gobbled down in the blink of an eye. I was in the shower when Piper came home, found these in the cookie jar, and ate one. I was able to hear her un-printable exclamation over the sound of the shower. They're that good. Dorie Greenspan, who I'm starting to imagine (in a totally non-creepy way) as my fairy baking godmother, jokes that these cookies are called World Peace Cookies because if everyone in the world had one war would be a thing of the past. She may have been joking, but I think she's on to something.

These cookies are everything: double chocolate, deliciously buttery, ever-so-slightly crumbly, with a nice kick of salt from the fleur de sel. Sometimes I feel a little let down by shortbread cookies--once in a while I feel any flavor gets swallowed up in the texture, but these cookies have it in droves. For these, I would recommend using the best ingredients--Plugra butter, if you can find it, good chocolate, good salt. You'll be richly rewarded for it.

World Peace Cookies (Dorie Greenspan)

Makes about 36 cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 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

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 mixture, 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.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°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 one 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. Enjoy!