Dorie Greenspan: A delightful treasure trove of cookbooks and cookies
September 2, 2020
Live to Eat is back with another new episode! This week, I chatted with baking guru, Dorie Greenspan.
A legend in the food world, queen of baking, and champion of cookies, Dorie Greenspan shines in the kitchen. A sweet and savory star, Dorie is influenced by her passion for Paris, her experience working alongside masters like Julia Child and Pierre Hermé, and the transformative magic of baking. As a girl, Dorie nearly set her house ablaze trying to make frozen French fries, and now she is the author of 13 cookbooks. Dorie has quite the success story, and though she ascribes it to luck, I’m not so convinced! A columnist for The New York Times Magazine and five-time winner of James Beard Awards, Dorie is also just the person you’d love to chat with while eating a couple of cookies, of course.
- Tune in on this episode of Live to Eat to find out:
- :: Why you should be baking French sablés in muffin tins
- :: Game-changing advice to creating a lasting marriage
- :: The simple trick to a more human interaction
- :: Dorie’s surprising secret to making the perfect pie crust
Don’t believe the hype? Try Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies, and see for yourself. Part French sablé, part chocolate chip; completely irresistible.
Thanks for listening today!
Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies
From DORIE’S COOKIES, by Dorie Greenspan, published by Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt
There is no way to describe the World Peace Cookie without resorting to what would be considered hyperbole by anyone who hasn’t tasted one. They’re flat-out phenomenal. And hundreds of thousands of people agree with me. Just do an Internet search for “World Peace Cookie,” and you’ll see — the last time I checked there were over fifty million references!
Makes about 36 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (170 grams) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (28 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 stick, plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons; 5 ½ ounces; 155 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
- ⅔ cup (134 grams) packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 grams) sugar
- ½ tsp fleur de sel or ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 5 ounces (142 grams) best-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped into irregular sized bits
Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium speed until soft, creamy and homogenous, 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. 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 in half. Shape the dough into logs that are 1 ½ inches in diameter. Don’t worry about the length — get the diameter right, and the length will follow. (If you get a hollow in the logs, just start over.) Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and freeze them for at least 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. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Working with one log at a time and using a long, sharp knife, slice the dough into ½-inch-thick rounds. (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. (If you’ve cut both logs, keep one baking sheet in the fridge while you bake the other.)
Bake the cookies for 12 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 and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can munch them, or let them reach room temperature (I think the texture’s more interesting at room temperature).
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 3 days; they can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 2 months.
Playing Around
Rolled-and-Cut World Peace Cookies
WPC dough has a mind of its own and it’s hard to corral it into perfect rounds no matter how you handle it. If you’re on a quest for a neater, rounder cookie, roll the dough to a thickness of ⅜ inch and refrigerate or freeze as you would for logs. If you have 2-inch baking rings, use a cookie cutter that’s slightly smaller than 2 inches, cut out rounds and center the rounds in the baking rings. (Muffin tins won’t work for these cookies.) Alternatively, you can cut out the dough and bake it on lined cookie sheets — it’s how we made the beautiful cookie in the photograph. The baking time remains the same no matter how you cut the cookies.
Share Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies recipe with a friend today! If you make this recipe, tag me @candacenelson for a chance to be featured on my stories!