I hope it’s not too late for a cookie recipe! Although this one would be a treat anytime of the year. Gail Simmons, a judge on the Top Chef series, calls these “addictive” and my family agrees. I put half of these crispy, chewy, fudgy cookies in the freezer, and got them out only two days later. They are gluten free and made with egg whites and rich dark chocolate, the healthiest kind.
Her method of piping the batter onto the cookie sheet from a plastic bag just didn’t work well for me. As the chocolate cooled it stiffened, and I think I left a couple of cookies worth of batter in the bag. So for the second sheet I used my trusty melon baller to scoop the batter and it worked perfectly. Press down slightly with the walnut on top to flatten.
4 egg whites
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
12 ounce 70-72 percent cacao dark chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, plus walnut halves for garnish
1/2 cup chopped dried cherries or cranberries
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt until foamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in chocolate, walnuts, and cherries.
Scrape half the batter into a large zip-top plastic bag. Cut a 3/4 inch hole in one corner of bag. Pip 2-inch cookies onto prepared cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining batter and a clean zip-top bag. Top each cookie with a walnut half. Bake 15 minutes or until outside is set and dry. Cool completely on sheet pans. Store in an airtight container for up to a week. Makes 36.
Note: I used Ghirardelli 60 percent cacao semi-sweet large chips. Mine made 28 cookies.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Waste of time and good ingredients. I live in Colorado where humidity is low. The batter was drying out so fast I could not get it to pipe at all. It was like working with thick fudge. Way too dry to use at all.
So sorry Diana ! And that chocolate is expensive!I had that same problem with the stiffening batter and that’s why I resorted to the melon baller to scoop out the cookies which did work fine. Bummer!
I think the trick with these cookies is to place them on the cookie sheets immediately..so get your cookie sheets ready beforehand. I used a small cookie scoop rather than the ziploc bag as I know the bags can be really messy.