Small Batch Flourless Chocolate Cookies

These small batch flourless chocolate cookies are what happens when a brownie top becomes a delicate cookie. Made with just an egg white, powdered sugar, and Dutch process cocoa, they bake into six naturally gluten-free cookies with a thin, crackly shell, fudgy center, and crisp edges. The batter comes together in about ten minutes — no flour, no leavener, no chilling required.

I originally published this cookie recipe in 2019 and have updated it with process photos so you can see exactly what the whipped egg white and batter hould look like.

The Cookies That Are The Best Part Of A Brownie

Imagine holding a brownie corner piece. Now imagine pressing it down until almost nothing remains but the top and the edges. That’s these cookies. A paper-thin shell, crisp edges, and just enough chewy, fudgy center.

As the name implies, these cookies are made without flour. In fact, there are only a few key ingredients to make them: egg white, powdered sugar, and cocoa powder. I make these flourless chocolate cookies whenever my husband and I crave fudgy brownies but don’t have the patience to wait for them to bake.

Traditionally, cookies like these skip the egg white whipping step — similar to how François Payard’s famous chocolate walnut cookies are made. I’ve experimented with this, and while the cookies still taste great, the tops bake with smaller mosaic cracks. I’m partial to how my cookies look.

So I’ve stuck with my technique of whipping the egg white (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it) to get the crackly tops that are a spitting image of the top of a brownie. That’s the life of a recipe developer. I test so you don’t have to.

The Reasons For The Ingredients

This recipe has very few ingredients, and each one is doing specific work. For that reason, I don’t recommend substitutions.

• Use regular powdered sugar with cornstarch. Grain-free powdered sugar behaves differently under heat and won’t give you the same crackly top. Sugar-free powdered sugar doesn’t contain sucrose and can’t interact with the egg white the way regular sugar does to give the cookie its structure.
• Only a fresh egg white. Aquafaba doesn’t have enough protein, carton egg whites are pasteurized, and neither will whip or bake the same way as a fresh egg white
• Dutch process cocoa. Dutch cocoa gives the cookies deep, rounded flavor because it has been treated to reduce acidity. Natural cocoa will make these taste noticeably bitter, and there’s nothing in this recipe to balance that.

Before You Bake: Erin’s Testing Notes

A couple of things worth knowing before you start to make these flourless cookies:

• Use a Silpat baking mat. The sugar-egg combo makes these cookies sticky, and they will want to stick to parchment. Greasing the parchment made them spread wildly. A Silpat lightly grips the batter to control the spread and makes for the cleanest release.
• The batter is thinner than you expect. The consistency is supposed to look like a thin batter, not cookie dough. Don’t add more dry ingredients to compensate. It will push the cookies towards fudge territory.
• Whipping the egg whites. Whipping to soft peaks creates a stable, opaque foam that forms the smooth, crackly-top surface. Overmix, and the cookies bake up thicker and without the shiny tops. Undermix, and the cookies will spread with larger “feet” on the bottom.

How To Make Flourless Chocolate Cookies

Start by prepping the ingredients. Cocoa powder tends to clump, so sift it through a fine mesh strainer into the powdered sugar before mixing.

Most large-sized US eggs contain about 2 tablespoons of egg white, but I still measure it to be sure. A little more or less can change the texture of the cookies.

Add the egg white to a mixing bowl with the vanilla and use a hand mixer to beat until soft peaks form. It’s a short window, so watch for the peaks to just flop over and stop there.

To keep the structure of the whipped egg white, add the dry ingredients in two increments, gently folding after each. First, it will look streaky and foamy, and after a few more folds, the dry streaks will disappear.

Expect a thin, sticky batter even after folding everything together. This is all ok. Fold in the chocolate chips — regular or mini, both work. Then use a small cookie scoop to portion the batter into 6 cookies on the Silpat-lined baking sheet.

I don’t recommend trying to make the cookies bigger. A larger dollop means more batter to spread, and these will run thin fast.

Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes — the tops will have that distinct brownie crinkle-top and a few cracks running through the middle. The edges of the cookies have set, and the centers will have the familiar chewy bite of a brownie.

Small Batch Flourless Chocolate Cookies

4.8 from 5 reviews

These small batch flourless chocolate cookies are the best parts of a brownie top, in cookie form. With crackly tops, fudgy centers, and crisp edges, the cookies are naturally gluten-free and made with just powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and an egg white.

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by Erin Cernich

Yield6 Cookies

Prep10 minutes minutes

Cook12 minutes minutes

Total Time22 minutes minutes

Equipment

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  Baking Sheet
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  Silpat Baking Mat
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  Hand Mixer
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  Fine Mesh Strainer
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  #60 Small Cookie Scoop (1 Tablespoon)

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 tablespoons egg white, room temperature (about 1 large egg)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ¾ cup powdered sugar (made with cornstarch; spooned and leveled)
• ▢ 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch process (spooned and leveled)
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 3 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips (regular or mini)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

 

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  Preheat the oven to 350F degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat baking mat.
If you do not have a Silpat mat, use parchment paper that has been coated (most are today). The coated side will look shiny. If not, very lightly spray the parchment with cooking spray. If there is too much spray, the cookies will spread, a lot.
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  In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. If your cocoa is extra lumpy, pass it through a fine mesh strainer set over the bowl.
  3/4 cup powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch process, 1/4 teaspoon salt
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  In another small mixing bowl, add the room temperature egg white and vanilla. Use a hand mixer with whisk attachments and whip the white on medium speed until soft peaks form (this takes me 75 seconds on my mixer).
  2 tablespoons egg white, room temperature, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
Soft peaks are the stage just past foamy. The white will be opaque, and when you lift the beaters, the peaks will flop over. If they are overmixed, the cookies will come out much thicker.
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  Sprinkle half the sugar and cocoa mixture over the whipped egg white. Using a spatula, gently fold until the dry ingredients begin to moisten. This will take a few folds, so be patient and turn the bowl as you go. Add the remaining sugar mixture and fold until no dry streaks remain. A few small lumps are fine; they'll bake out. The batter is much thinner than traditional cookie dough. It will be shiny, sticky, and almost gluey.
  
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  Fold in the chocolate chips until just combined.
  3 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips
  
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  Use a small cookie scoop to portion 6 equal cookies and place them at least 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. The batter will be thin, spreading as it hits the baking sheet and even more as it bakes. This is normal.
  
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  Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. As they bake, a shiny top will form with a few cracks, and some batter may sneak out from under the cracks and look fudgy. The cookies are done once the edges appear set, and you'll also smell the chocolate. Careful not to overbake, or the bottoms will burn.
To smooth out wonky edges and make the cookies perfectly round, use a round cookie cutter or the back of a spoon and go around the cookie, pressing the edges back in.
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  Cool the cookies on the baking sheet set on a wire cooling rack for 5 minutes. Then, slide the Silpat off the baking sheet, with the cookies still on it, to finish cooling on a wire rack. Leaving them on the hot pan traps steam as they cool, which can soften the crackly top.
If you try to remove the cookies from the Silpat while they are still warm, they will most certainly stick and break apart.
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  Once the cookies are cool, lift the edges of the Silpat to peel the cookies off, similar to how you peel paper off a sticker. If the cookies still want to stick, use a spatula to help peel the cookies off.
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  Store the cookies in a covered container at room temperature for 3 days. Humidity can soften the cookies and make them sticky.

Notes

• Serving Size – The recipe can be doubled, using 1/4 cup of egg whites (about 2 eggs).
• Egg White – It needs to be at room temperature to whip properly. It’s much easier to separate the egg while it’s cold, then let the white sit in a small bowl while the oven preheats. 
• Measuring the Egg White – I have tested this recipe specifically using 2 tablespoons of egg white. The amount of white in most large eggs is 2 tablespoons, but it can vary, which is why I have you measure it. 
• Measuring the Dry Ingredients – Use a spoon to scoop into the measuring cups, then level off the top with the back of a knife. Do not dunk and press the cups into the dry ingredients. Too much or too little can throw off the ratios.
• Cookie Spread – Because of the thin nature of this batter, I do not recommend making the cookies any larger. They will spread too much and bake too thin.   
• Parchment or Silpat – I’ve tried both, and strongly recommend Silpat. It gives you the most control over spread and the cleanest release.
• Cookie Texture – The cookies are like the best part of a brownie top: a crispy, crackly top with a chewy and fudgy center.  
• Substitutions – The ingredients listed serve specific functions, and I do not recommend substitutions. Grain-free powdered sugar, sugar-free powdered sugar, aquafaba, and carton egg whites will not yield the same result. 
• Freezing – Gently place the cooled cookies in a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.

This recipe is adapted from François Payard’s original recipe in Food 52’s Genius Desserts. 

Nutrition Estimates

Calories: 111kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 0.5mg | Sodium: 107mg | Potassium: 89mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 4IU | Calcium: 8mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is calculated by a third-party and should only be considered an estimate and not a guarantee.