![Sparkling Shortbread Cookies](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/12/07/multimedia/YK-Sparkling-Shortbread-1-a959/YK-Sparkling-Shortbread-1-a959-mediumThreeByTwo440.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
Flourless Cocoa Cookies
![Flourless Cocoa Cookies](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/12/06/dining/06cookbooks-rex4/merlin_130594196_628cb3c0-19ef-4ef8-856b-1fb65554e22c-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 3eggs
- 3cups/340 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 1½cup/106 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- ¼teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1½teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1cup/140 grams bittersweet chocolate chunks
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until well blended.
- Step 3
In another large bowl, sift together confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk into eggs, changing to a spatula when the batter becomes too thick to whisk. Stir in vanilla and chocolate.
- Step 4
Use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop cookies onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 1½ inches between them. Sprinkle with flaky salt.
- Step 5
Bake, rotating front to back, and top to bottom, halfway through, until set around the edges, cracked on top and slightly underbaked in the middle, 10 to 13 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely on the baking sheets. Store carefully in an airtight container.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Delicious! I only used 2 cups of sugar and they were perfect. Can't imagine what they would taste like with 3 cups! The cookies have a very rich chocolate flavor. The outside "crust" tastes kind of like a macaron, but then the inside is very gooey -- almost fudge-like. Very unique cookie, different from any I've made before. They are very easy to make! I used bittersweet chocolate chips and they worked just fine for the recipe.
Too much sugar!!!!
These are best for a gluten free crowd. More like eating a piece of chocolate than a cookie. I used Valhrona cocoa powder and dark chocolate (62%). I think this is key to avoid them being too sweet. No problems with dryness, slightly crisp on outside, fudge-like on inside. Imperative to add the cinnamon and flaked salt--also added a little bit of espresso powder. The cinnamon hit a final note and offered a nice spicy finish. They took a wee bit longer than 13 minutes to be done.
My copy of The Fearless Baker arrived and the recipe for these cookies calls for 1-1/4 cups of cocoa (not 1-1/2 cups).
Just eat the chocolate. Forget all that cocoa, sugar et cetera. You won't have to cook, either. This is what I do! I find it saves a lot of trouble, time, work and the stove and dirty dishes. Also you can keep it to yourself, in your pocket or your top drawer or your desk. Or your handbag, your car or another secret place. Not only tastier - cookies are sometimes very dry with no butter. So think of all the saving and - yes - think of your health.
For those freaking out over the amount of sugar, I suggest that you are reading/using table sugar, and not confectioner's sugar? I agree, if I had used table sugar it would have been horrendously sweet, but I followed the recipe to a T and the sugar seems perfect.
I made these with two cups of powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp of cardamom, and some diced walnuts, and I'm thrilled with how they turned out. Thanks!
Confectioners (powdered) sugar is far lighter than granulated sugar. Three cups of it roughly equals a cup of granulated sugar.
Made the recipe as is-and the cookies were delicious. Used a scale to assure accurate measurements of dry ingredients (helps a great deal with cocoa and powdered sugar). Batter is very stiff at the end-I added a splash of amaretto which helped the mixing. My cookies required a slight flattening at 10 minutes. Perfect for gluten-free and dairy-free diets. The chocolate chunk size doesn't matter-they melt in. Unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch processed) worked well.
I cut the sugar by a third, thinking it would be too sweet, but that was a mistake. Perhaps 3 cups is too much sugar, but 2 cups is too little. Next time I'd try 2 3/4 cups and see how that goes. Aside from that, great recipe and extremely quick and easy!
Which type of cocoa powder does this recipe call for? Thank you very much.
Are the chocolate chunks added as-is or chopped? I've never used them and don't know their size. Also, Google sites tell me there's no standard for labeling chocolate semi- or bitter- sweet; it advises not to trust labels but taste, not always possible. Does your staff have percentages of cacao to rely on?
This recipe appeared just in time to be a Passover dessert. The recipe is best when weighing the ingredients as the original recipe for this only calls for 11/4 cups of cocoa powder but the gram weight remains the same. These came out flat but the taste was incredible. I used Valrhona cocoa powder and bittersweet chocolate chunks and opted for the cinnamon as well as the flaked salt on top. Perfection.
I used only 2 cups powdered sugar and then added 1.5 cup almond flour as my batter seemed very wet. I also found that chilling the dough before cooking improved the results. They turned out great!!
I made this recipe with just a tad over 2 cups confectioners sugar as another person had written - it turned out great and still very sweet. Everything else was followed as written. I have a gluten free daughter and I am allergic to rice so this recipe was a wonderful find. My cookies were not crispy as typical cookies but still wonderfully delicious. I used “enjoy life” brand semi-sweet Mega Chunks.
Just made these and the batter is completely liquid. I measured everything and I'm not sure what I did wrong. I refuse to throw this away. I put it in the fridge, hoping it will take some shape. If anything, I'll probably add a cup of flour.
Powdered (confectioner's) sugar is key. You can easily make your own in a blender or food processor. People that say they are too sweet definitely used the wrong kind of sugar. However if you weigh ingredients you wouldn't have gotten too much sugar but would have a very dense cookie. Mine stayed rounded which was great because the slight crunch on the exterior served as a sort of case to the melted chocolate chips inside.
Great option for Judith
On their own, very ho hum, but with vanilla ice cream they’re perfect—used as GF cookies & cream
These are SO delicious. I cannot even describe. The only thing, though, was the measuring of the cookies. I don’t have one of those cookie scoop, so I used two spoons to get the cookies into the baking sheets. This resulted in less half the cookies, 11 vs 24; I’d edit the instructions to include the size each cookie should be because mine were humongous—not a terrible thing, but also I would’ve liked to have more. Next time I might even double the recipe.
Add some extracts next time as experiment (almond, mint, hazelnut or raspberry) or liqueur (orange, hazelnut).
hello is there an alternative to eggs i can use? a friend has an allergy and im unsure as to which of the many egg substitutes would be best to use without it radically changing the texture or taste (sorry if this question appears twice, im unsure if my first comment actually loaded)
Hello! I have a friend with a gluten allergy and an egg allergy for whom i want to bake cookies. There are many substitutes for eggs in baking, but I was wondering if there were any somebody could recommend to me that wouldnt modify the texture of taste too much?
You need to follow the recipe for the amount of sugar, otherwise it ends up too liquidy and the texture is off. It’s not too sweet.
Made exactly as the recipe Indicates. I feared I had overbaked them and indeed when I tried one straight out of the oven it was underwhelming. The next day, however, they were fudgier in texture and perfectly delicious--deeply chocolatey and exactly the right amount of sweet (I used confectioners sugar). The batter does get very stiff when properly mixed.
I used 2 1/2+ CONFECTIONER’S sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 140 grams = 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips. Batter was SO thick I couldn’t mix it, almost threw it out. But! I added 1/4 - 1/2 mug strong hot coffee and mixed it all w spatula. Use teaspoon, not tablespoon to spoon out bec the spread a lot, worked better on Silpat than parchment paper. Finally success! They taste great!
These were delicious! However, mine spread significantly, sticking to the parchment, and looked almost nothing like the matte cookies in the picture. Does anyone know why this might have happened?
These are simply Amazing! I followed the recipe and they are perfect: chewy, dark and not to sweet. I was worried because the dough was so thick, but am very happy I did not make any adjustments. I use extra brute Barry cacao powder. These will for sure go into heavy rotation on my baking list. Yum!
The texture is awful, and the cookies are way too sweet. Never baking them again!
These do not spread so they bake into whatever shape you put on the pan
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