Recipe Credit: Dorie Greenspan
Pierre Hermé, considered the most brilliant pastry chef in France, gave me this recipe in 1999, when he created it for a now-closed Paris restaurant called Korova. At the time, the cookie was revolutionary because it was salty! Not potato-chip salty, but noticeably salty – salty in a way that’s somehow both subtle and present enough to keep you wanting another bite. Even though it’s now common to add a hefty dose of salt to almost every sweet and to sprinkle the tops of cookies and brownies with salt, the salt in this cookie is still a surprise.
These butter-rich, sandy-textured slice-and-bake cookies are members of the sablé family – sablé means “sandy” in French; think shortbread. But unlike classic sablés, these are midnight-dark – there’s cocoa in the dough – and they’re packed with chunks of bittersweet chocolate. And, of course, they’re salty, interestingly salty because Pierre uses fleur de sel, a moist off-white sea salt, which is harvested by hand and dried in the open air. Fleur de sel was almost unknown to American cooks and bakers in 1999. It is now more widely known and produced in countries around the world.
When I first published this recipe, I called the sablés Korova Cookies. Years later, a neighbor told me he was convinced that if everyone could have these cookies, there would be planetary peace and happiness. I instantly renamed them, and they’ve been World Peace Cookies ever since. A perfect name for a perfect cookie.
GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START
Oven: The recipe was tested in a conventional/non-fan oven. Even though these were tested in a still oven, I think they are prettier when they are baked in a convection oven – the moving heat helps them to develop attractive cracks.
Oven temperature: The oven temp is really important – if the temperature is too high, the texture of the cookie changes: it becomes kind of lacy and tastes almost burned.
Flour: In my recipes, 1 cup all-purpose flour equals 136 grams.
Cocoa: Dutch-processed cocoa works best here. I use Valrhona.
Mixing and log-rolling: The dough can be different from batch to batch — it always seems to turn out well no matter what, but the inconsistency can be frustrating. I’ve found that it’s best to mix the dough for as long as it takes to get big, moist curds that hold together when pressed, then knead, if necessary, so it comes together. When you’re rolling it into logs, keep checking that the logs are solid. Again, the dough can be capricious, and it may not always roll into a compact log on the first (or second or third) try. Be patient.
Chilling: The dough must be chilled before baking – the pucks must go into the oven cold. Figure 1 to 2 hours in the freezer or about 3 hours in the refrigerator.
Cutting: The logs of dough, particularly if they’ve been frozen, are very difficult to cut. It’s easiest to slice the logs into rounds just after they’re rolled and then chill or freeze them until they’re cold enough to bake.
Rounding: These cookies don’t bake to even rounds, which is fine, but if you’d like them to be more uniform, let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes after they come out of the oven. Then, working with one cookie at a time, center the cookie in a cookie cutter (or baking ring) that’s about 1/4 inch larger and move the cutter in circles. As the cookie touches the cutter, it will round itself (see below).
Yield: The original recipe rolled the dough into two logs, each 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and produced about 30 cookies. This recipe calls for making three logs and yields about 50 cookies.
Makes about 50 cookies
Ingredients:
- 170 grams (1-1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
- 28 grams (1/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 155 grams (5-1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
- 134 grams (2/3 cup) light brown sugar
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 142 grams (5 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into irregular-sized bits
Direction:
Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium speed until soft, creamy and homogeneous, about 3 minutes. Beat in the salt and vanilla. Turn off the mixer, add all the dry ingredients and pulse a few times to start the blending. When the risk of flying flour has passed, turn the mixer to low and beat until the dough forms big, moist curds. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix to incorporate. This is an unpredictable dough (see above). Sometimes it’s crumbly, and sometimes it comes together and cleans the sides of the bowl. Happily, no matter what, the cookies are always great.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gather it together, kneading it if necessary to bring it together. Divide the dough into three pieces. Shape each piece into a log that is 9 inches long. If the logs are hollow, start over. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and freeze them for 1 to 2 hours or refrigerate them for at least 3 hours.
When you’re ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 325 degrees F (see above). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Working with one log at a time and using a long, sharp knife, slice the dough into 1/2-inch-thick rounds (see above). The rounds might 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 2 inches between them. Bake one sheet at a time, keeping the other sheet in the fridge while the first bakes.
Bake the cookies for 11 minutes — don’t open the oven, just let them bake. When the timer rings, they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, and that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack. If you want to round the cookies, allow them to sit on the sheet for a couple of minutes and then place a cookie cutter or baking ring (see above) around each cookie, move the ring in circles, allowing it to bump against the cookie as you go; stop when the cookie is rounded. Let the cookies come to room temperature before serving or packing.
Bake the remaining dough.
Storing:
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 bake the cookies 1 minute longer. Packed in a container, the cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 5 days; they can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 2 months.