Korova Cookies

Korova Cookies
Home Cooking



I could have called these cookies a number of things. I've seen them referred to as ice-box cookies (because the dough is frozen in a log-shape before being sliced). Certainly the description 'crunchy, double chocolate cookies' would be accurate. The blog smitten kitchen, where I got this recipe from, calls these the 'world peace' cookies.



I settled with korova because it sounds kinda cool and sounds a bit like my name. As you might know from my 'about me' section, I'm fanatical about things that have my name on it (Cora wine, anyone?)


Yes, I am going to see Coraline. I just bought the book 2 days ago ;).

Korova is a bit of a stretch from Cora but hey, we do what we can.

So why did they also earn the title of world peace cookies? They're just that good.

For once, I didn't have a clear craving that I needed to fulfill. I didn't have an idea of what I HAD to eat or HAD to bake. I thought about doing cookies but I kept an open mind. When I saw this cookie recipe and read the accompanying description, I knew it was The One.

Let me be frank: there were moments of panic whilst I was making these. The dough was so crumbly, I could barely keep it together. Thankfully, smitten kitchen warned about this and I was reassured that this is 'normal'. I'll now pass on the warning to YOU at home. The dough is fiddly. Don't freak out.

My attempt is also pretty ugly. I toyed with the idea of deleting all the photos and starting over when I make another batch (I'm certain I'll be making another batch too)... but I couldn't bring myself to do it so bear with me re: the fact that these cookies aren't even round, let alone any bit attractive.

I used 1/3 of the original recipe to make 12ish cookies. The maths are pretty easy to work out so I've put the original quantities here and if you do want to reduce how many you make, you have the option of doing so.

Korova Cookies
Makes around 36

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 155g unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup packed white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 140 g chocolate chips

Procedure:

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda.
2. In another bowl, beat the butter with an electric stand mixer until creamy. Add the 2 sugars, salt and vanilla extract and beat for another 2min.
3. Drape a towel over your stand mixer (prevents flour and cocoa powder from flying everywhere), add the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar and pulse 5 times, around 1-2 seconds each time. Take a peak... if there is still a lot of unincorporated flour, pulse another couple of times. The idea is, you want it to start coming together without getting too enthusiastic and over-working the dough.
4. Add the chocolate chips and mix only to incorporate.5. Gather the dough together on a working surface - mine was really crumbly and difficult to shape at this point (it's supposed to be crumbly but I suspect I didn't use enough butter either... just a bit under. Bring it into a cohesive dough and divide into 2 sections.
6. Section into 2 logs. Using cling wrap helps. My dough was so temperamental that I couldn't get a log shape. I settled with a triangular prism.
7. Wrap up your dough in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hrs (or overnight) or freeze for up to 2 months before you decide to use it.
8. When the dough is chilled and you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius and line a cookie tray with non-stick paper.
9. Cut the dough up into slices around 1cm thick using a sharp knife. Arrange these on the cookie tray about 2cm apart.10. Bake in the preheated oven for around 12min (if using frozen dough, bake 1min longer; you don't need to thaw the dough).
11. Remove the tray from the oven and place on a cooling rack. At this point, the cookies won't look ready. In fact, don't touch them because they'll still be soft. They crisp up as they cool down to room temperature.12. Serve these at room temperature. They're great for dunking in milk.


As I mentioned above, I became really skeptical whilst making these because my dough refused to behave. I've already attributed this to the nature of the cookie dough, as well as the fact that I might not used enough butter.

Close-up cookie shot

Once I bit into a cookie though, all apprehension and doubt dissolved. They are truly delicious. Very crunchy, a bit crumbly and insanely chocolatey. If too much chocolate gives you headspins, you should stay away from this recipe. I could eat maybe 2 on their own but really, having a glass of milk to dunk these in means I can munch on them nonstop.

Cookie tower

My parents both thought these cookies were fabulous, and they aren't major sweet tooths. I guess it's win-win then! Love the crowd pleasers :D.