topic Help needed from my experienced baker friends in Kitchen

Help needed from my experienced baker friends

Abrowneyegirl — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 15:46:34 GMT

On a recent trip we had these great Flourless Chocolate cookies and I have the recipe. see below. I need help- they are not coming out crackly, light and chewy; they are heavy dense pucks??!!! I have made them twice now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 egg whites

1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300F.

Mix together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add egg whites, stirring with a spoon until mixture forms a dough. (Mixture should be thick enough to form into balls; if not add more powdered sugar and cocoa). Add chips; mix well.

Form dough into 15 balls. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 16 to 19 minutes, until glossy and crackled. Remove from parchment paper and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

ennui_too — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 15:49:24 GMT

Seems like there's an ingredient missing. Are you sure it doesn't need baking powder or baking soda?

Another idea ... are you using a mixer? One recipe I found says to fold in the egg whites by hand.

Are you using dutch process cocoa with alkali?

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

house_cat — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 15:54:42 GMT

I'm not an expert, unless you consider the thousands of mistakes I've made over the years. If I were making this recipe, I would whip the egg whites first, then fold in the other ingredients. Also, 300 degrees sounds very low.. you might try 325 and see how that works.

NOTE: this forum wouldn't allow me to use the word f l u f f, yet it had no problem with w h i p. Go figure.

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

Abrowneyegirl — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 15:56:26 GMT

On 8/2/2014 ennui_too said:
Seems like there's an ingredient missing. Are you sure it doesn't need baking powder or baking soda?

Another idea ... are you using a mixer? One recipe I found says to fold in the egg whites by hand.

Are you using dutch process cocoa with alkali?

I double checked recipe online- they are all about the same, no have baking powder/soda.

I tried once by hand, once with hand mixer with dough hooks

Yes Dutch cocoa

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

brii — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 15:58:05 GMT

I think the egg whites need to be whipped first and then folded into the rest of the batter.

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

ennui_too — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 16:02:49 GMT

None of the other recipes say to whip the egg whites.

However, the other recipes say to bake for 8 minutes. Maybe you're leaving them in the oven too long.

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

brii — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 16:08:52 GMT

There is a recipe on the King Arthur Flour site for Flourless Fudge Cookies that is very similar to this recipe. It calls for more egg whites (not whipped) and less baking time.

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

Abrowneyegirl — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 17:11:06 GMT

The baking time seemed off for me too, so I set the timer for 8 minutes and watch them. If I went the full 16-19 minutes they would be burnt pucks!

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

ennui_too — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 18:08:04 GMT

On 8/2/2014 Abrowneyegirl said:
The baking time seemed off for me too, so I set the timer for 8 minutes and watch them. If I went the full 16-19 minutes they would be burnt pucks!

Maybe your oven is too hot. Have you tested the thermometer?

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

Abrowneyegirl — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 20:38:25 GMT

I do keep an oven thermometer in the oven. I do not have problems baking anything else.

The dough for these cookies is extremely dry. If I add an extra egg to moisten the dough just enough to incorporate the dry ingredients it makes the cookies even more dense and hockey puck like. and NOT shiney light and crackle topped.

If you have ever seen them they are thinner, light cookie that is crisp yet chewy.

I am trying not to over mix.

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

KarenQVC — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 21:13:07 GMT

Whenever I have a problem like this I email the bakers at King Arthur Flour. They have links on the website. I believe they also take phone calls during certain hours. They are good, free, and they don't know if you are using their products or not and don't seem to care. Best of luck with the project.

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

I am still oxox — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 21:16:10 GMT

On 8/2/2014 ennui_too said:
Seems like there's an ingredient missing. Are you sure it doesn't need baking powder or baking soda?

Another idea ... are you using a mixer? One recipe I found says to fold in the egg whites by hand.

Are you using dutch process cocoa with alkali?

I think shortening might be missing, butter or oil perhaps, this seems like a super dry cookie to me

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

RACALAMB2 — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 22:06:57 GMT

On 8/2/2014 Abrowneyegirl said:
On a recent trip we had these great Flourless Chocolate cookies and I have the recipe. see below. I need help- they are not coming out crackly, light and chewy; they are heavy dense pucks??!!! I have made them twice now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks.

1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 egg whites

1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 300F.

Mix together sugar, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Gradually add egg whites, stirring with a spoon until mixture forms a dough. (Mixture should be thick enough to form into balls; if not add more powdered sugar and cocoa). Add chips; mix well.

Form dough into 15 balls. Place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 16 to 19 minutes, until glossy and crackled. Remove from parchment paper and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Made something like these last night. I whisk the egg whites,then add the dry. Drop on cookie liner and bake (both batches turned out different.?? First batch was not baked long enough, the last batch I baked longer and they were crisp and shinny. They remind me of meringue cookies but a brownie batter and flavor. I have never heard of your version but I might try it!

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

RACALAMB2 — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 22:11:39 GMT

Also mine does not have cornstarch. But all the rest of the recipe is the same. I also added chopped nuts.

Try whipping egg whites -they're really good. my friend is GF so I made them for her.

Re: Help needed from my experienced baker friends

ennui_too — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 23:57:32 GMT

On 8/2/2014 Usedtobeoxox said:
On 8/2/2014 ennui_too said:
Seems like there's an ingredient missing. Are you sure it doesn't need baking powder or baking soda?

Another idea ... are you using a mixer? One recipe I found says to fold in the egg whites by hand.

Are you using dutch process cocoa with alkali?

I think shortening might be missing, butter or oil perhaps, this seems like a super dry cookie to me

The chocolate provides the fat. Maybe the OP needs a different chocolate.

Here's a page about the differences .... http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/CocoaTypes.htm

I'd toss in a little baking powder, myself.