Last night’s dinner
Ok, this actually wasn’t last night’s dinner-it was the night before. Last night was fridge choice. I had leftover pad thai and Stephen had eggplant parmesan and a bowl of cereal. Odd combination but he seemed happy enough.
Tonight’s dinner
We’re going to be having pizza (see recipe on previous post) but I thought something chocolatey would be in order too. I was out to this neat shop called “Serious Cheese” on Bank St. South the other day and they had glorious looking cookies that were labelled “Flourless and Dairy-free”. Granted this description doesn’t really sell this cookie but wow they looked good.
However, I had just spent the last hour looking for a top that would fit onto my baby body without looking pornographic and didn’t think that I should have a cookie on top of all that cake that has been around lately. Luckily, I’m over that crazy thinking now so I hunted down a recipe for them.
Found this adorable website that I will be visiting again. It is run by a couple who (like many of us) are trying to justify their obsessive purchasing of food magazines. I wonder if this would be ok to do for grocery store gossip rags too?
I’ve put in the original description of the method but all I did was bung everything in a bowl and beat it with a wooden spoon until it looked thick. THEY ARE FABULOUS!!! Must double the batch next time.
http://thebittenword.typepad.com/thebittenword/2009/09/flourless-doublechocolate-cookies.html
Flourless Chocolate Cookies
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons (68 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3 cups (350 grams) confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of salt
2-3/4 cups (272 grams) walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon (15 grams) pure vanilla extract
Place a rack each in the upper and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Combine the cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, salt, and walnuts in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly add the egg whites and vanilla. Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes, until the mixture has slightly thickened. Do not overmix it, or the egg whites will thicken too much.
With a 2-ounce cookie or ice-cream scoop or a generous tablespoon, scoop the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, to make cookies that are 4 inches in diameter. Scoop 5 cookies on each pan, about 3 inches apart so that they don’t stick when they spread. If you have extra batter, wait until the first batch of cookies is baked before scooping the next batch.
Put the cookies in the oven, and immediately lower the temperature to 320°F. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until small thin cracks appear on the surface of the cookies. Switch the pans halfway through baking. Pull the parchment paper with the cookies onto a wire cooling rack, and let cool completely before removing the cookies from the paper. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.