Pierre Hermé World Peace Dark Chocolate Cookies
A good friend put up the recipe for Pierre Hermé World Peace Chocolate Chip Cookies on her intranet blog, and she has such a following in the office that a few of my friends from work actually went and tried the recipes at home.
It just so happens that two of them spoke separately with me today about their experiences with the cookies, and both didn’t turn out so well. One friend ended up with a tray containing one giant flat cookie crumble (as in, all the cookies had melded into one flat piece and you couldn’t just break off a little piece to eat because it would crumble), and the other with a tray of sizzling oil pools.
After a little discussion, we discovered it was because the recipe had called for butter in the quantity of “1 Stick and 3 Tbsp”, and neither of them had been terribly sure what that meant, so both had ended up using way too much butter. I wasn’t completely sure myself, so after poking around a few conflicting websites, I discovered that it was equivalent to about 5.5 ounces or 155g of butter (1 stick of butter = 1/4 pound = 4 oz = 113g).
I told them I’d try the recipe out too – but with the right quantity of butter – and report back on the results. I did so right after work (thankfully I had all the ingredients I at home), and the cookies turned out great! They were also very easy to make.
Pierre Hermé World Peace Dark Chocolate Cookies
INGREDIENTS (makes about 30 large cookies)
- 1/3 cup Valronha or high quality cocoa
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fleur de sel (sea salt)
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1 stick plus 3 tbsp unsalted butter (total = 155g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5oz (140g) Valronha or similarly good quality chocolate chips or chopped-up chocolate (at least 65% cocoa content)
PREPARATION
- Line baking trays with baking parchment (baking paper). (Trust me this will make your life much easier when washing up.)
DIRECTIONS
1. Sift the cocoa and flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Add the baking soda, sea salt, brown sugar, white sugar, butter and vanilla.
3. Use a mixer to beat until just blended. (Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl every few seconds so all the ingredients are incorporated.)
4. Fold in chocolate chips using a wooden spoon.
5. Drop in rounded teaspoons onto baking trays, at least 1.5 inches apart.
6. Bake for 15 min.
7. Cool on a rack for 10-15 min.
And voila – you have a batch of rich, delicious cookies, with gourmet chocolate oozing from every crevice =)
Three closing notes:
- If you find that some of your cookies have melded into each other as some of mine did below, just use a butter knife to gently cut through the cookies while they are cooling.
- You can reduce the amount of sugar if you like, though if you use fairly intense dark chocolate as I did, it’s nice having that extra sweetness from the sugar to balance out the bitter-sweetness of the chocolate.
- If you have leftover cocoa, store it in the freezer to prolong its shelf-life.
*And a final word from my expert friend who provided the original recipe: If you prefer your cookies higher and rounder, shape the cookie clumps into higher mounds on the tray, stick the tray in the refrigerator for a few hours, and when you’re ready to bake the cookies, transfer the tray from the refrigerator straight into the oven. She says: “If they are cold, they won’t melt and spread. If they are S’pore room temperature, they will release the butter and start to grow very flat.”
Very very yummy! thanks for the tips. Will try it again for sure.
from the pix, did u use the whisk to cream the butter and sugar? The K-beater (the white one) would be better. Whisk is more ideal for egg whites and whipping cream. Thinking of trying this receipe but maybe i try with some pecan nuts?
YES thank you for pointing this out! I was just thinking about this the other day but forgot to blog about it…
Everybody please note: I used the wire whip (whisk-like) attachment, but I SHOULD NOT HAVE… The flat beater would have been much better because cookie dough is dense and clumpy. Whisk beaters are much better for runny mixes.
In fact I think I’d better attach some pictures…
oh yeah, regarding the measurement of butter…yeap, i always get irritated when the recipe call for 1 stick of butter. u know according to Martha Steward baking book, it indicated that one stick of butter equal to 8 tablespoon of butter. 1 tablespoon of butter equal to 1/2 ounce or 15g.
So if i based on that, this recipe shd be using 165g of butter. ok. let me try and tell u later if it is too oily.
Haha ok =) I made another batch yesterday for my family – same formula, but my ingredients were a little colder this time so my cookies held their shape a little better – and they came out just as delicious as the first time! This is a great recipe really…
They were yummy! When are we having them again??