Flourless Chewy Chocolate Cookies

My friends, the sorbet is gone and the craving for chocolate goes on.

We had a busy day yesterday. Taxes, shopping, some planting on my end and some boat trailer fixing on Mr. Vittles' end.  Then mid afternoon we went to a birthday party for our friends' one year-old, where there was delicious food aplenty - so neither of us was hungry for dinner. 

Which meant I had time to make a new chocolate delight.

But even after making it, this recipe (found on New York Magazine online, courtesy of François Payard) still boggles my mind.

Its a thin, but very fudgy, chocolate cookie... with no flour or butter?

Ok so let's pretend for a second that it doesn't have 3 cups of powdered sugar.  Which, I believe, roughly equates to about a cup and a half of granulated sugar.

When you look at it that way, the sugar content doesn't sound quite as bad.  But its still enough to potentially keep your kids up for 26 hours like some of Pammy Vittles' treats.

What I'm saying is - that's a lotta sugar, people.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

But otherwise.... unsweetened cocoa, egg whites, salt, vanilla - boy, that almost sounds healthy!

So yeah let's just forget about the sugar and enjoy these half-meringue, half-brownie, all-chocolate goodies.


Flourless Chewy Chocolate Cookies

• 3 C powdered (confectioners) sugar
• 1/2 C plus 3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 T pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Separate eggs and place the whites into small bowl or measuring cup.  Add vanilla and whisk briefly to combine.  Set aside

On low speed, combine powdered sugar, cocoa powder & salt in mixer fitted with whisk attachment.

With mixer still on low, add whites & vanilla a little bit at a time, whisking after each addition.  Once all has been incorporated, increase speed to medium and beat for 3-5 minutes.  Batter should become very thick.

Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, mound batter onto parchment paper in 5 spots, about 3 inches apart.  <--- learn from my mistakes & don't try to make these small! Towards the end I tried to stretch the batter out, and the small ones came out pretty weird :P

Place sheet on middle rack of oven, and cook 15-17 minutes until tops are glossy & lightly cracked.

Remove pan from oven, and transfer parchment paper with cookies onto wire rack.  Cool 8-10 minutes on rack before attempting to peel from parchment.  <-- also important! They'll break if you do this too soon.

Repeat with remaining batter.  Cool completely and store in airtight container.


Recipe Adapted from François Payard's Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies, as it appeared on nymag.com