the Korova is an easy to make slice and bake chocolate-chocolate chip cookie

The very first time my mother took a bite of a Korova cookie, she knew it was the chocolate-chocolate chip cookie she had long been waiting for.  Ruth and friend of hers were at a cooking demonstration at the James Beard House in Greenwich Village, and Dorie Greenspan was there preparing a handful of recipes, including the Sablés Korova, from her 2002 book called Paris Sweets: Great Desserts from the City’s Best Pastry Shops.  Ms. Greenspan was as delightful as her travel-recipe book, my mother says; she signed my mother’s copy of Paris Sweets, and the Korova cookie has been a family favorite of ours ever since.

True, the Paris-inspired Korovas are not traditional German Christmas cookies.  But I am pretty much addicted to them any time of the year.  They are pleasingly dark chocolate throughout, with a hint of sea salt that makes you want to eat just one more.  The real bonus is that they are an easy to make, slice and bake variety, and you can keep the dough in the refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to slice and bake them.   I guess you could say that the holiday season is just another great excuse to make and enjoy this decadently delicious chocolate-chocolate chip cookie.

Recipe for Korova Cookies – Sablés Korova

From Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets; Great Desserts from the City’s Best Pastry Shops (Broadway Books 2002).  The book’s recipe is adapted from Pierre Hermé Paris.

Ingredients:

1¼ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon fleur de sel, or ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small bits (Valrhona Guanaja is Pierre’s choice)

Preparation:

Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together and keep close at hand.  Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until the butter is soft and creamy.  (Alternatively, you can do this and all subsequent steps by hand, working with a sturdy rubber spatula.)  Add both sugars, the salt, and vanilla extract and beat for another minute or two.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the sifted dry ingredients.  Mix only until the dry ingredients are incorporated – the dough will look crumbly, and that’s just right.  For the best texture, you want to work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added.  Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a smooth work surface and squeeze it so that it sticks together in large clumps.  Gather the dough into a ball, divide it in half, and working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1½ inches (4 cm) in diameter.  (Cookie dough logs have a way of ending up with hollow centers, so as you’re shaping each log, flatten it once or twice and roll it up from one long side to the other, just to make sure you haven’t got an air channel.)  Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill them for at least one hour.  (Ruth saves and uses the inner cardboard tubes from paper towel rolls an uses them as reinforcements outside of the plastic wrap; the cardboard rolls also help shape the dough into uniform logs.)  Wrapped airtight, the logs can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 1 month.

shape the dough into logs and chill before slicing and baking; Ruth uses cardboard inserts from paper towels to help shape the logs and protect them while in the freezer or refrigerator

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C).  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and keep them close at hand.

Working with a sharp thin-bladed knife, slice the logs into rounds that are ½ inch (1.5 cm) thick.  (Don’t be upset if the rounds break; just squeeze the broken off bit back onto the cookie.)  Place the cookies on the parchment-lined sheets, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) space between them.

use a sharp knife to slice the dough, and don't despair if the slices crumble, just squeeze it all back together (really!)

Bake only one sheet of cookies at a time, and bake each sheet for 12 minutes.  The cookies will not 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 stand until they are only just warm or until they reach room temperature – it’s your call.  Repeat with second sheet of cookies.

Recipe’s Note:  The dough can be made ahead of time and chilled or frozen.  If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking – just slice the logs and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.  Packed airtight, the baked cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 1 month.

An American in Paris:  Ms. Greenspan also adds at the end of her recipe that she has added chopped toasted pecans, plumped currants, and pinch of cinnamon to the dough and loved it.  When she is out of Valrhona Guanaja, the preferred chocolate for these cookies, she has used store-bought chocolate chips.