Chocolate Puddle Cookies

Bakers! It's time for us to unite against a common enemy - one that sits in our cupboards and pantries. It's a necessary evil, some say. It bonds together our sweets and fats and keeps everything nice and fluffy. But it can also ruin a cake and destroy a clean counter top. If you over-mix your batter, it will rear its ugly head and make you wish you have never heard of the word "Kitchenaid".

It's gluten. And, I promise you, we would be okay without it.


I know, I know. It's a bold statement. But hear me out. I have found a recipe that will totally win you over. It has chocolate. It has nuts. It has sugar. It has egg whites. And that's it. Sounds like a hot mess, but the taste utter heaven.

The chocolate puddle cookies are in the meringue family. They have a lovely crunch on the outside. But that's where the similarities with their white poofy cousins ends. For, inside these cookies, lay a chewy and chocolaty puddle of amazing. The texture is perfectly complemented by the crunch of the roasted nuts. And, you know the best part?

You won't even miss the flour.



Chocolate Puddle Cookies
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

Makes about ten large cookies

1 1/2 cups toasted walnut or pecan, chopped in half
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (use the best you can find!)
1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1) Preheat the oven to 320F. Place your sugar, salt, and cocoa in a large bowl and whisk to evenly distribute all the ingredients. Add the nuts and stir with a wooden spoon a couple times.

2) Add your eggs whites and vanilla extract in your bowl with your dry ingredients. Stir with your wooden spoon until everything is nice and wet. (At first it won't look like you'll have enough wet ingredients, but just keep stirring! Everything will be fine, I promised!)

3) Scoop the cookies on a silplat or any other non-stick mat, two heaping tablespoons per cookie. Make sure you leave a lot of room between the cookies. Bake until the tops get real glossy and crack - about 12 to 15 minutes. When you take them out, let them cool for five minutes and try and move them. If they still stick to the mat, pop them back in the oven for a couple minutes and try to move them again. They like to be stubborn sometimes.

Interested in gluten free cooking? Check out Z's Cup of Tea - this lovely baker-supreme is hosting this month's Sugar High Friday!