Recipe: Flourless Fudge Cookies (dairy & gluten free – but really good!)

I was assigned the Gluten-Free Girl at work for the birthday treat list – greaaaaat! But it was a task and I could conquer it – she likes chocolate – so I found these Gluten & Dairy free Flourless Fudge Cookies. I also grabbed the parchment paper that I got a while back from PaperChef.com (thanks!).

It was a really easy recipe – powdered sugar, cocoa, egg whites, vanilla and chocolate chips. It’s a tough stir though. The recipe called for 3 large egg whites – my eggs were small and after 3 – it was still a powdery mess. I decided to try for a 4th egg white and magic happened! Suddenly it became this thick, gloppy, ooey gooey texture! It was like the slime from “You Can’t Do That On Television“.

After glopping the dough onto the parchment paper – it didn’t look too appetizing – but I had gone this far – might as well bake them!

Ultra-chewy, rich chocolate cookies with no added fat? And no gluten? Impossible! But it’s true: these flourless chocolate cookies get their texture from egg whites, and their flavor from cocoa powder (which represents the only fat in the recipe). Plus they’re easy to make: Just stir together a few simple ingredients, scoop onto a pan, and bake for 8 minutes. You won’t believe the delicious result. 2 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional but good 1 cup cocoa powder, Dutch-process (European-style) preferred* 3 large egg whites 2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract *For darker, richer-looking cookies, substitute 1/4 cup black cocoa for 1/4 cup of the Dutch-process cocoa Directions 1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets. Or line with parchment, and grease the parchment. 2) Stir together all of the ingredients till smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, and stir again till smooth. 3) Drop the soft, batter-like dough onto the prepared baking sheets in 1 1/2″ circles; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. 4) Bake the cookies for 8 minutes; they should spread, become somewhat shiny, and develop faintly crackly tops. 5) Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool right on the pan. 6) Yield: 16 large (3″) cookies.

Recipe summary Hands-on time: 5 mins. to 7 mins. Baking time: 8 mins. to 10 mins. Total time: 13 mins. to 17 mins. Yield: 16 large (3″) cookies. Tips from our bakers Want to make more, smaller cookies? Drop the dough in 1 1/8″ balls (about 2 measuring teaspoonfuls) onto the baking sheets; a level teaspoon cookie scoop works well here. You’ll make about forty 2 1/4″ cookies. Add up to 2 cups of chocolate chips or diced walnuts to the batter. You’ll lose the cookies’ “no added fat” attribute, but make some very tasty cookies. With 2 cups of add-ins, you’ll make about 24 large cookies, or 48 smaller cookies. Note: For larger cookies with add-ins, increase the baking time by 2 minutes, to a total of 10 minutes.