Flourless Snow Drops

In my pursuit of gluten free cookies, I have been reading a lot of recipes and happened to come across this recipe card from CHATELAINE magazine. Not only is it easy to make, but tastes great and with all the chocolate and cocoa involved, you really do not notice the lack of flour. Like the flourless chocolate cake that I posted earlier, these are quite dense and heavy, which is great because you cannot eat too many of them. I used unsweetened Baker's Chocolate because I wanted something not overly sweet. I am notorious for reducing sugar in my baking recipes (I figure it will ease the guilt and be kinder on the waistline). Not having made anything flourless before, I did not want to mess with the sugar in case its functionality impacted the cookie texture. I made small "toonie" sized cookies that were soft and chewy. I powdered whole unblanched almonds in a food processor, although it was not very fine, I think leaving it a coarse like breadcrumbs would enhance the texture.
I hope to post more gluten free offerings in the coming weeks. I can hear my friend G asking for egg free recipes so look out for that as well.
Stay warm and bake lots, nothing quite like holiday baking and eating.

Skill Level: Easy 

Serves: 8-10

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1  egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 112 g unsweetened dark chocolate, (4 squares) chopped, melted and cooled
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup  icing sugar

METHOD: 

1. Whisk almonds with cocoa, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

2.  Beat butter with brown sugar in a large bowl, using an electric mixer, until light and fluffy, about 3 min.

3.  Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in cooled chocolate. Fold in almond mixture until combined. 

4. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate until dough is firm enough to roll, about 10 min.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper

6. Put the icing sugar and granulated sugar in two separate bowls

7. Make small balls with the dough, roll first in the granulated sugar and then in the icing sugar

8. Bake in the middle and bottom racks for 12 -14 minutes in total

9. Rotate and switch sheets halfway through until cookies crack

10.Remove and allow to cool

11. Cookies will look undercoked but will continue to bake as they sit

12. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container for a week

13. Can be frozen for up to a month

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