I have decided to award my own personal Nobel peace prize for 2009 to Dorie Greenspan and Pierre Hermé for their important efforts to bring World Peace Cookies to kitchens on several continents!

And we have chestnuts to thank for this union of writer and chef. Dorie met Pierre Hermé while working on a story for the New York Times about chestnuts. While in Paris on vacation in the early 90s, she phoned Fauchon (a luxury food shop made even more famous by Hannibal Lector in Hannibal) to find out how candied chestnuts (Marrons glacés) were made and was told to drop by and speak to the chef pâtissier there at the time, who was Hermé. Within minutes of meeting, a friendship was born. Since that encounter, Dorie has helped translate the genius from his lab into desserts we can create in our own kitchens.

One of the most famous creations is this humble sablé cookie. After tasting the all-American chocolate chip cookie, Hermé decided to tinker with the recipe since he found the original too sweet!
So, what does he do? He comes up with a double-chocolate chip cookie that's sweeter but the sweetness is counteracted by delicate fleur de sel (meaning "flower of salt" that comes from the Guérande region of France). And not just a pinch but half a teaspoon. The salt rounds out the sweetness and brings out the chocolate flavor. Plus, this cookie is of the slice-and-bake variety, which is on the opposite spectrum of the type of patisserie you'd expect from such a chef.

This pleasantly salty, melt-in-your-mouth, chocolate cookie can bring peace to your world (or at least keep the kids from fighting while they're eating these morsels of chocolate heaven).

Recipe: World Peace Cookies

Makes: about 36 cookies

Ingredients:

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous ¾ cup store-bought mini chocolate chips (Hermé uses Valrhona)