I know that cooking for someone who avoids certain foods (either due to allergies or by choice) isn’t easy. When I chose to give up eating wheat (not quite gluten-free, but pretty close) my goal was never to stress my family and friends when it came to cooking for me.

When Theresa B hosted Bunco in June she made sure to share with me what I could safely eat. She ended with showing me these Flourless Chocolate Cookies she had baked with me in mind. Thankfully for my waistline many gluten-eating friends who were there that night were happy to share them. Yes, they are that yummy.

Theresa graciously shared the recipe so I could bake them at home. A few months later I took it as a good sign when I ran into Theresa at our local Wegmans and had the ingredients on my shopping list.

These cookies are easy to make coming together in one bowl. While I used pecans, you could substitute another nut such as almonds or walnuts. This is the time to use high quality unsweetened cocoa powder – I prefer Scharffen Berger’s 100% Unsweetened Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder. Coarse sea salt is key to this recipe – it makes the chocolate part of the cookie even better.

The end result is something between a meringue and macaron – light but with a bit of crunch – and delicious. Oh, and a bit of brownie thrown in. What’s not to love?

Thank you to all of my family and friends who take the time to make (or procure) food that I can eat – it’s greatly appreciated.

Flourless Chocolate Cookies

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Course Dessert

Servings 2 dozen

Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder see Notes
1 teaspoon coarse sae salt
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup whole pecans finely chopped
4 large egg whites at room temperature and lightly beaten

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Line four baking sheets with parchment paper. (See Notes)
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, cocoa powder and salt
Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.
Add egg whites and stir until just combined (do not over mix.)
Drop batter by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets (they spread a bit while cooking).
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until cookie tops are dry and crackled.
Transfer sheets to a wire rack to let cookies cool completely.
Carefully peel the cookies from the parchment as they may stick.
Store cookies in a sealed container between layers of parchment paper at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Notes

* I prefer Scharffen Berger’s 100% Unsweetened Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder.
* Consider using walnuts or almonds in place of pecans.
* I was able to fit 6 cookies on each 15x11 baking sheet. If you only have two sheets, you can remove cookies still on the parchment paper to cool. Then re-line the same baking sheets with fresh parchment paper.