Chewy Chocolate Walnut Cookies

I had some leftover egg whites from when I made the lemon curd tart, and I remembered seeing these flourless cookies in Epicurious a while back and being intrigued, so I looked them up and tried them out. I have to say, although they weren't the prettiest thing ever, since they didn't hold cookie-shapes, they were DAMN good. Although Ed would have liked fewer walnuts. I just smoothed them out into a big brownie since they weren't acting like cookies. Turns out, King Arthur has a recipe for a similar cookie, and they say to chill the batter first, which might help with my cookie-spreading problem. They're light and chewy at the same time, and they taste like toasted walnuts and chocolate, which is one of my favorite combos.



I didn't follow the recipe exactly, since some of the recipe reviews said they thought there was too much sugar, so the recipe I used is below.

Chewy Chocolate Walnut Cookies
Made ~3/4 of a small cookie sheet's worth of brownies - I imagine a 9x9" pyrex pan would be perfect for brownies, or chill them and make drop cookies

1.25C walnuts
1C confectioner sugar
2 egg whites
2 tbs cocoa (It was all I had left... I'd recommend using at least 1/4C)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp espresso powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4C chocolate chips

Toast the walnuts - chop them up, spread them on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-10min. Make sure to watch them carefully, because they go from perfect to browned in like fifteen seconds.

Mix together all the dry stuff, and then add the egg whites and vanilla. Stir it together for a while (you don't have to worry about over mixing since there is no flour), and then dump it all in a brownie pan. Or, chill it and make drop cookies.

Bake at 350F for 15 minutes, until the tops are cracked and shiny.

Then do your best to not eat the entire pan at once!