The recipe adaption and photo below are by Hannah Kamisky, author of the dessert cookbook, My Sweet Vegan. The recipe originated with Dorie Greenspan’s Korova Cookies, also known as Peace Cookies, but Hannah veganized them while still maintaining their chocolaty goodness.
In her cookbook Paris Sweets, Dorie Greenspan named them Korova Cookies (Sablés Korova), after the restaurant off the Champs-Élysées. In her more recent book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie renamed them World Peace Cookies, because her neighbor became convinced that a daily dose of these cookies was all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness. I think that alone speaks volumes for these cookies!
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup + 3 tablespoons margarine
- ⅔ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- Begin by beating the margarine in your stand mixer just to soften it up a bit, and then cream in both sugars, salt, and vanilla, mixing until creamy and fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, and baking powder, and slowly sift these dry ingredients into the mixer. Stir on a low speed until just combined, and toss in the chocolate chunks. Again, mix very little in order to simple distribute the chocolate, but manipulate the dough as little as possible. It should still seem rather dry and crumbly.
- Divide the dough into two lumps, press them together gently to form two logs, and wrap them up in plastic wrap. Place them in the fridge to chill for at least one hour.
- Once thoroughly chilled, go ahead preheat your oven to 325ºF.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
- Slice the cookie logs into ¼ inch rounds- Don’t worry if you mush them into strange oval shapes, as you can easily reform them with your hands after placing them on the prepared baking sheets. Be sure to give the cookies plenty of room to breathe, since it should be no problem fitting them all on both sheets with lots of space between each.
- Bake them for 12 - 14 minutes, and although they will not look completely done, they will no longer be so shiny on top and appear to have firmed around the edges. Leave the cookies on the sheet to cool so that they can finish cooking and solidifying. This will leave you with a delightfully soft and chewy cookie!