World Peace Cookies

If I were to ever be fired from a job I would like the official reason to be "creative insubordination". It seems to me a reason like that would be worth getting fired. I have been reading Dorie Greenspan's cookbook (yes, reading) Baking from my Home to Yours. She has some great stories in that book, one about getting fired for "creative insubordination" and another relating to the naming of these cookies. For some reason the whole time I was making them I couldn't stop thinking about the Miss America Pageant. When I was a kid my mom and I used to watch Miss America every year. Even at a young age the platform of World Peace seemed a little daunting for any Miss America contestant to accomplish in the one year of her reign. Of course, my mother, being the good mother she was would always make some sort of comment about how I should try out for Miss America. Whenever she said this I would never think that I wasn't pretty enough, or how my mosquito bitten legs would look in a swimsuit, or even what my platform would be. My main fear was what I would do for a talent. I have no music or dance skills and nobody...not even my dogs want to hear me sing! Now, I wonder if maybe Miss America could bake these cookies for her talent. That way both her talent and her platform could be World Peace. It's just a thought for any other potential Miss Americas with no talent out there!
These are seriously chocolaty cookies, maybe there will only World Peace for chocolate lovers.

World Peace Cookies
adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment,  beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients,  pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. If there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough. For the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don't be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate chips and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours or up to 3 days.

Baking:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you're cutting them, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won't look done, nor will they be firm, but 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 serve them or let them reach room temperature.