Feeling for all the world as if I had just swallowed a ton of bricks, the dread of leaving for school grew only more powerful as the hours passed, my days in a comfortable home numbered and quickly slipping away. There wasn’t a thing I could say to express my jumbled emotions, no matter how I tried to talk through it, ignore it, or try to keep my mind off it; I’m simply no good at keeping anxiety at bay.
Laying awake in bed, pondering what on earth might make my mind at ease, there was only one answer that kept coming back, echoing through the depths of that tired brain, but I was desperate enough to try anything.
Early the next morning, before the first light had even filtered in through my bed room window, the oven was already cranking away at full speed. Yes, baking does calm me down, and even better, I could make a treat for my new roommate and perhaps bribe a few new friends to think of me kindly. Still reeling a bit from my last baking venture, successfully signing off on a full half-dozen new recipes, there would be no fancy-pants decorating or masterful creations here, but instead something that I myself might find comforting if dropped in an unfamiliar place with only odd eatables around.
Subtracting as many ingredients that might be offensive as possible, I arrived at the perfect recipe that needed only to be veganized: Dorie Greenspan‘s Korova Cookies, also known as World Peace Cookies. Considering how I planned to use them as a crutch to be accepted by my dorm mates, I could only hope that they might become Peace Offering Cookies as well.
And can I tell you? I think I made a lot of new friends already.
Korova Cookies
The only thing better than chocolate is chocolate cookies with big chocolate chunks and a pinch of salt. These are sure to win over new fans and friends with ease.
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup + 3 Tablespoons Vegan Butter
- 2/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 5 Ounces Bittersweet Chocolate, Chopped
Instructions
- Begin by beating the vegan butter 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 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 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Slice the cookie logs into 1/4 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. This will leave you with a delightfully soft and chewy cookie!
Notes
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
20Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 128Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 102mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 2gSugar: 9gProtein: 2g
All nutritional information presented within this site are intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on BitterSweetBlog.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. Even though I try to provide accurate nutritional information to the best of my ability, these figures should still be considered estimations.
oh my goodness, these cookies are pure bliss!! I’m sure these made you the most popular girl in the dorm already!! :0)
Those cookies are great–I wish I had special friend-making cookies last year. I did ask my neighbors if they wanted to play a game of apples to apples. Everyone is looking for friends the first week or two–I’m sure you’ll do fine! :)
These look heavenly! You won’t need to bribe your roommates Hannah. Your personality will win them over! But, what a great idea for an ice breaker/conversation starter! What lucky roommates you have!
Oh, my, Hannah! Those people are the luckiest ever! :)
I have made this recipe and it is so addictive. And I made them to give as a gift too – it was a huge hit! :)
Those cookies would win anyone over, I love them.
Oh, these look sooo good!
Yum! Those look delicious :)
18 gorgeous cookies…bet you were the hit of the dorm. Dorie’s recipies alsways seem to go over big.
I am sure this helped with your transition. I recall feeling very anxious about leaving home for the first time as well, but I ended up loving my experience away at college. I hope you love it the same. Good luck to you!
Oh my! Those do look lovely! I am always on the lookout for cookies to make for my coworkers so I can once again surprise them with vegan food that doesn’t taste “weird”. Thanks for the recipe! :o)
These are still my favourite recipe for cookies! I made a batch of 36 of them yesterday for a sci-fi fancy dress party (!) and they disappeared in an instant! If i had’ve had time I wanted to dress them up with some sort of silver icing, but i’m not quite sure if its even possible to get silver food! Although I saw some Indian sweets the other day which apparently had a real thin layer of actual silver on them!
Hey Russ the silver paper is called leaf it comes in gold or silver. It can be bought at cookoing supplies or cake baking suppliers. It is edible though expensive.
these cookies were unbelievable! so good, plus i love that they are called world peace cookies. a few questions: it says baking soda in the list of ingredients and powder in the directions. i used soda would powder make a difference? also i had trouble cutting them into slices after refrigerating them. they kind of crumbled. what might alleviate that problem?