Help needed from my experienced baker friends

Abrowneyegirl · ‎03-15-2010

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.

ennui_too · ‎07-30-2014

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?

house_cat · ‎03-09-2010

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.

~ house cat ~

Abrowneyegirl · ‎03-15-2010

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

brii · ‎06-20-2010

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

ennui_too · ‎07-30-2014

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.

brii · ‎06-20-2010

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.

Abrowneyegirl · ‎03-15-2010

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! ${#emotions_dlg.scared}$

ennui_too · ‎07-30-2014

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! ${#emotions_dlg.scared}$

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

Abrowneyegirl · ‎03-15-2010

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.