World Peace Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 c all purpose flour
• 1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably not Dutch process)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 stick plus 3 T butter at room temperature (11 T total)
• 2/3 c packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 c sugar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c mini chocolate chips – definitely “mini”  Don’t even think about using regular sized – or you’ll not be a patient, happy person when you see the outcome.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Measure the flour by spooning it into a measuring cup and leveling it with something straight-edged like a spatula.

In a medium bowl, put the flour, cocoa, and baking soda and mix it together well with a whisk.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft, then add the brown sugar, white sugar, salt, and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes.  Using a rubber spatula, carefully blend in the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda.).  Then beat again with the mixer for about 30 seconds.  You don’t want to overbeat.  Add the chocolate chips and mix in well with the spatula.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, gather it together into a ball, and divide it in half.  Shape each half into a log, about 1 1/2 ” in diameter.  It may be crumbly.  Be calm and carry on, pushing the crumbs back into the log as necessary.  Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours (or freeze them for later).  When you’re ready to bake, with a sharp knife (yes!) slice the logs into rounds which are about 1/2″ thick.  (Note: this is where my patience was tried.  The chocolate chips seemed to make the cutting difficult and I had lots of pieces of dough everywhere, rather than nice round slices.  As Greenspan suggested, I just gathered up the pieces and squeezed them back into something resembling a cookie.  I was at peace.)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Arrange the cookies so there is about 1″ between them.  If you want to bake the whole batch of cookies at once, use two baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes (or 13 if your cookies were and still are frozen).  Put the baking sheet on a cooling rack and let the cookies cool until lukewarm before removing them.