The Cocoa Chewie: Delicious & Gluten Free!

This just happens to be our new favorite cookie. It is a knock off of a cookie I love to get from Whole Foods. They are so undeniably delicious. I'd never have tried them if it wasn't for those free samples Whole Foods is always giving out...but, my, they are absolutely fantastic. I had absolutely no idea that they were gluten free (no flour used!) and low fat (no butter, either!) and they still come out ridiculously amazing! Only trouble I had was getting them off the foil. The recipe called for parchment, I used my last sheet, and still had trouble getting it off the parchment. The greased foil, on the other hand, well, that was a totally different story. They wouldn't even BUDGE! Ugh. (Not to mention I obviously did not space that batch sufficiently!)

(Okay, so that batch was a disaster....but it still tasted great!)

3 cups walnut halves, toasted & cooled

4 cups/(1 lb) powdered sugar 

         1/2 cup + 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

          scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

4 large egg whites, room temperature

1 tbsp vanilla extract 

Preheat the oven to 320F. Position the racks in the top and bottom third. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper. You're going to want to use a large cookie sheet as these cookies spread out quite a bit. You can toast the walnuts in the oven while you're preparing the cookie dough. When you begin to smell the walnuts, it's time to pull them out of the oven! Let them cool and then coarsely chop them.  

Sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir in the chopped walnuts, then add the egg whites and vanilla. Stir until well combined. Remember that these cookies contain no flour and the batter will not turn out to be a typical cookie dough. It is very loose and runny, but bakes into the most delicious cookies ever!

Spoon the batter onto prepared cookie sheets, using about two tablespoons for each cookie. Do not attempt to put more than 6 cookies per sheet, or you'll be sorry! Bake until they puff up, get shiny on the top, and then crack. This should take about 15-18  minutes. I had trouble baking these bad  boys all the way through (and knowning when enough baking was enough), so don't be surprised it if takes 20 minutes or more to bake a batch. You don't want them to be gooey inside, but you certainly don't want them to come out of the oven hard, either. These are CHEWY cookies, not crunchy! They will keep in an airtight container for about three days. (Bet you can't make them last that long!) Enjoy!!

Makes about 18 large cookies.