Every night after dinner, the Husband and I clean the kitchen and sit back down at the table to play Wordle together. You know the game —an early Covid invention a software engineer with some free time developed for his word-game-loving girlfriend and then sold to the New York Times for seven figures.
I started Wordle as a solo act. Way back when it was still the gray box layout on a very no-frills website, and everyone was posting their screenshotted results on Twitter. The Husband had zero interest in Wordle until I was having trouble one night, and he solved the puzzle for me. Somehow, that made it a worthwhile endeavor, and now we play my Wordle together, which is “cheating,” I know, but he loves it, and he’d never do it otherwise.
This after-dinner Wordle ritual always involves a little bite of something sweet. I try to avoid that being a full-on dessert to maintain a body-friendly sugar balance, and one way to do that is to have cookies in the freezer. You can’t go crazy wolfing down a dozen cookies if the rest are frozen. Plus, they last longer.
Last summer, I tried King Arthur’s (by way of P.J. Hamel) flourless fudge cookie. It was filled with the kind of tastebud happiness only a truly chocolatey cookie can provide, and I loved it. I made it three times before I had to force myself to move on to more recipe testing.
Last week, it was time to make more after-dinner treats, and I turned back to these cookies. I wanted to experiment with less sugar and more chocolate — the only planned edits I had.
I reduced the sugar and turned up the chocolate (I use the recommended King Arthur Triple Cocoa Blend), but when it came time to whisk the vanilla into the eggs, I was lost in thought and kept whisking. I didn’t end up with meringue-fluffy egg whites, but they definitely had some air beaten into them. Normally, these cookies would spread themselves out, take up as much space as possible, and bake flat — precisely what you’d expect with no flour and no leavening added. But the slight whipping of the egg whites gave them some form and a little puff. They didn’t spread and maintained a thicker, puffier texture.
I had no intention of doing this, but it was a happy accident. Don’t get me wrong, the cookie, in its original format (a flat, shiny disk), is fabulous. Whisking more air into the egg whites simply made it sturdier.
I always gild the chocolate lily by adding my favorite super dark (85%) Pascha chocolate chips (options are chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit).
THE EXTRA CHOCOLATEY FLOURLESS FUDGY COOKIE
Ingredients:
2 cups (227g) confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1¼ cups (107g) unsweetened cocoa powder
3 (106g) large egg whites
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ cup (95g) chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease it.
2. Whisk the sugar, salt, espresso powder, and cocoa powder together in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla. For a fluffier cookie, whisk the eggs until they are quite foamy.
4. Whisk the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. You should see no evidence of powder, and the mixture should form a thick ribbon when dripped from your spatula.
5. Add the chocolate chips and mix well.
6. Use a tablespoon cookie scoop to drop onto your prepared baking sheets.
7. Let rest for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
8. Bake for 10 minutes until you see shiny, slightly cracked tops. Do not overbake. They are a fudgy cookie!
9. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool on the pan.
This tiny recipe makeover wasn’t necessary for taste or even for ease. I was just curious about what less sugar and more chocolate would taste like. And for a chocolate lover, it was just right. The number of cookies you get will depend on what and how much you add and the size of the cookie scoop you use. More insider tips are housed in the notes section of the printable version.
When I started making these last summer, Husband had the bright idea to take two of them and sandwich vanilla ice cream in between. He found this made a quite delightful ice cream sandwich. Store this in your memory bank for July and August when we all need ice-cold treats and January temps.
Hugs from afar,
Julia (in the kitchen)
