World Peace Cookies
Happy Secret Recipe Club Day everyone! Once again, I was excited to find that I was paired with a blog I had never heard of! Sara from Cupcake Muffin mostly blogs about some of my favorite things – baked goods!
As I searched through her old posts, I was drawn in by these World Peace Cookies. As Sarah mentioned in her post, a LOT of bloggers made these a few years ago and I just never got around to it. She put it best when she said ” If you’re one of the two remaining folks out there who hasn’t made these cookies, you absolutely must try them!” I completely agree. If you haven’t made these yet, I highly recommend it. The cookies are chocolatey with a hint of saltiness that makes them quite addictive.
One of the great things about these cookies is that you can make the dough and freeze it for up to 2 months. I went ahead and made a double batch. I baked up one batch and left the other dough in the freezer. That way I’ll be able to bake up warm cookies on a moments notice.
World Peace Cookies
Yield: 24 cookies
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick plus 3 Tbsp (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips
Directions:
Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla 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 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. Shape each half of 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 or up to 3 days. The dough can also be frozen for up to 2 months. If you freeze it, just add 1 minute to the baking time.
When you are Ready to Bake:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Using 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 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 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.
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Mmmmm I love one dish cupcakes!
http://www.brisbanebaker.blogspot.com
Those cupcakes look delish! Can you tell me more about the “dipping in ganache” technique? Does the ganache need to be a certain consistency first?
I have seen some maple cheesecake around the blogs, maybe that would be awesome use for the sugar? Or to top maple sugar cookies 🙂
I made a seriously awesome maple mousse cake to go with Christmas dinner this year and it used maple sugar. It was one of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten. The link to the post is: http://joanne-eatswellwithothers.blogspot.com/2010/01/frozen-maple-mousse-pie-with-chocolate.html.
Go Butler!! I think I’m going to use your “go to” cupcake recipe to make some Final Four treats for the office Friday
Wow that maple syrup event looks really cool, I wish I had known about it- it looks like they only do it once a year!
Carly – I dipped the cupcakes in the ganache while it was still very liquidy. I did it a few minutes after making the ganache and then let it set up on the cupcakes. Hope that helps.
Jen, the maple syrup experience sounds like so much fun and I’ve always wanted to do it! I wonder if it’s too late this year.
Those cupcakes look so pretty. Can you tell me what kind of liners you’re using? They stay so nice and bright.
ooo I love sugar houses!!! The tastings are always the best 🙂
Lila, I get the liners online. Here is the link for the colored ones, and I also get brown liners as well.
The cupcakes look beautiful and festive!! I love real maple syrup!
I should have a birthday more often. So good…