Flourless Chocolate Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

Flourless baked goods were always a mystery to me -- until the fateful day I stumbled upon this recipe while attempting to shamelessly google my way to the secret formula for Whole Foods' Chocolate Walnut Fudgie Cookies. While the end result for this particular recipe is flat and pancake-like, there is beauty in the minimal required ingredients!

The original recipe only calls for egg whites, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla and salt (so few that I can recite from memory!), but I decided to add in chopped walnuts and chocolate chips to prevent the cookies from spreading even more.

And for those allergic to nuts, chocolate toffee bars aren't too shabby of a substitute.

Technically if you leave out the mix-ins, these cookies have no added fat and are essentially fat free! But where's the fun in that? Also, for all you glutards out there - they're g-free!

The recipe:

(From King Arthur Flour)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. cocoa powder
3 large egg whites
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. walnuts, chopped
Optional substitute: 1/2 c. chopped toffee bar (Skor or Heath)

Directions (if I can actually call it that):
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease your baking sheet(s) or parchment lining the baking sheet. Mix together all the ingredients until smooth. Drop ~1 tbsp portions of the batter onto the baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool so they don't crumble when you try to pick them up...trust me the wait will be worth it.