When I compose a cookie plate, I have to think about everyone. It is my job as a pastry chef to not discriminate between people who love chocolate and people who hate it, between people who will eat as much butter as they care to and people who are on an egg white regimen. I want to make everyone happy. Home bakers face the same situation when they try to satisfy family members, friends, and coworkers.
This is where egg white cookies come into the mix. For customers who are avoiding dairy, I can offer them rich-tasting cookies without butter. For customers who cannot consume wheat—a number that grows each year—I can give them a decadent treat without flour. (Not all of the cookies in this chapter meet these criteria, so read the ingredients list carefully before making decisions on which cookies to make.) Plus, egg whites are always on hand in a pastry kitchen. While I keep a pint for brushing on top of rugelach and biscotti, I also save plenty to make meringues, macaroons, and marshmallows.
Egg whites give me all kinds of freedom to experiment with different textures. Sometimes I whip the whites after gently heating them over a water bath—this helps dissolve the sugar and allows meringues to hold their shape during baking while giving them a delicate, crisp crust. At other times, I mix the whites straight into the batter without whipping them at all. As a result, this chapter offers a small but diverse selection of cookies, from a coffee meringue swirled with milk chocolate hot fudge (Best Friends Cookies) to a rich, chunky flourless chocolate cookie (Ode to the Chunky Bar). An egg white cookie chapter would not be complete without a lovely coconut macaroon. Mine is made with unsweetened, dried coconut and cream of coconut. And the Candied Pecan Cookies make delicious ice cream sandwiches.
A few technical pointers before you start: Older egg whites seem to whip better and hold their shape. When I separate eggs, I let the whites stand at room temperature for a while before working with them to speed the aging process. Also, humidity is your enemy when making egg white cookies. On hot and sticky days, like we have all too frequently during Chicago summers, the humidity does a number on these cookies, causing them to lose their crisp exterior. I avoid making meringues on days like these when baking egg white cookies. I like to use nonstick baking sheets when possible. The cookies seem to hold their shape better. A final note: Ensure your mixing bowl is free of any residual oil when whipping egg whites. Oil and grease hinder egg whites from achieving the volume needed for meringue.
CANDIED PECAN ICE CREAM SANDWICH COOKIES
makes 84 small cookies and 42 small ice cream sandwiches
I LOVE THE IDEA of an egg white sandwich cookie that isn’t a French macaron. Modified from an old recipe from my mother, these meringue coins became my answer. I use them to make mini ice cream sandwiches—milk chocolate, coffee, or something more funky, like cocoa nib, are all great ice cream sandwich options. Or, for hot fudge sandwich cookies, whip the hot fudge as I do for the
Milanos,. The batter is simple—just egg whites, cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, a bit of salt, and flour. So these are not flourless cookies. I punch things up a bit by making praline, grinding it up, and folding it into the batter.
If praline is your thing, bookmark the recipe and make the praline on its own. Just skip the step where you grind the praline with confectioners’ sugar.
To pipe the cookies, you will need Ateco tip #803.
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup raw pecans
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
7 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
4 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Line a half sheet (13 by 18-inch) pan with a Silpat. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Add the pecans and stir until evenly coated. Add the vanilla and salt. Gradually add the granulated sugar, stirring often, until the sugar looks like wet sand, 2 minutes. Continue to cook over low heat until the pecans are coated in a dark golden praline—which looks like thick, nearly grainy caramel sauce—approximately 5 minutes. Pour the nuts and syrup onto the Silpat and let cool. Once the praline is firm, break it into chunks.
Place the praline in a food processor. Add ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar and pulse until a fine meal forms. Do not overblend. Sift the remaining 1¾ cup confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, and flour into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the egg whites and salt. Using the whisk attachment, mix on low speed to incorporate the dry ingredients. Increase the speed to high and whip until the whites are extremely aerated and shiny, approximately 8 minutes. Fold in the ground praline. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.
Line 3 half sheet pans with parchment paper. If you do not have enough pans, you can put the parchment paper directly on the counter and reload when pans free up.
Fit a pastry bag with the Ateco tip #803 and fill with the meringue.
Pipe the cookies approximately 1 inch apart into same-size rounds approximately the size of a mounded half dollar. Aim for up to 30 cookies per sheet. They will flatten and spread to about 2 inches. Let the cookies dry out at room temperature or until a thin crust forms on the outside, at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 350°F.
Bake one pan at a time for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake until the cookies look dry on top and they have firmed up on the sides, 2 to 5 minutes more. Let the cookies cool completely on the sheet pan. Repeat with the remaining meringues.
Make pairs of similar-size cookies. Turn half of the cookies over. Put small scoops of ice cream in the centers of the upturned cookies pipe hot fudge into the centers. Top with a second cookie and press lightly to adhere. Transfer to a half sheet pan and freeze if using ice cream or refrigerate if using hot fudge until chilled before serving.
The cookies will keep in the freezer (or refrigerator, if not filled with ice cream) for up to 2 weeks. Unfilled cookies can be stored in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 5 days.
BEST FRIENDS COOKIES
makes 20 cookies
WHEN I RODE A motorcycle, I’d head up to Milwaukee on a day off and stop at Fuel Café. It was there that I encountered a malted espresso drink. I already loved both malt and coffee, and there they were together, the malt balancing the harshness of the coffee. I had discovered best friends in the flavor department. Now I use this combination all the time.
Adding a spoonful of caramel sauce to the milk chocolate hot fudge is optional, but if you have some left over from another recipe, use it. It cranks up the malt and rounds out the coffee even more. These cookies are great alongside ice cream. Or dip them in chocolate (see
“How to Dip Cookies in Melted Chocolate”) for a polished look.
2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons instant-coffee crystals (such as Folgers)
½ teaspoon coffee extract (optional)
Heat the oven to 275°F. Have a couple of half sheet (13 by 18-inch) nonstick pans ready or line a couple of half sheet pans with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the hot fudge on medium-high speed until lighter in color, approximately 4 minutes. Beat in the caramel. Transfer to a bowl and leave at room temperature while you make the meringue. Clean out the stand mixer bowl well, ensuring that there is no residual oil.
In a heatproof bowl that fits over a pot for a double-boiler setup (see
“Using a Double Boiler”), whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and salt to break them up. Put the bowl over (but not touching) barely simmering water in a pot and warm the egg white mixture, whisking often, to the temperature of a scalding bath, approximately 2 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat and dry the bottom with a kitchen towel.
Pour the warmed egg white mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high until the whites have cooled and the meringue is thick and shiny, approximately 5 minutes. Add the instant coffee and extract and whip on low speed just to combine, 10 seconds.
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the hot fudge into the meringue to form a swirl. The chocolate needs to be incorporated enough so that it doesn’t bleed out of the cookies as they bake
but not so incorporated that the meringue loses the swirl completely.
Using two spoons, portion the meringue into 1½- to 2-inch blobs onto the prepared pans, about 10 cookies per pan. Bake for 2 hours. Turn the oven off and let the cookies cool in the oven to dry out completely, at least 1 hour or overnight (just remember they are in there before cranking up the oven again).
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, depending on the humidity level in the room.
ODE TO THE CHUNKY BAR
makes 36 cookies
THIS MIGHT DATE ME, but when I was a kid, you could always find Chunky bars alongside all the other popular candy bars. True to the name, it was a chunky chocolate bar filled with raisins and peanuts. My friend Jeffrey Elliot—who loves raisins—was also a fan. So when dreaming up a recipe to satisfy Jeffrey, my thoughts returned to the Chunky. This dough is remarkably easy to work with and so rich that you’d think it was full of butter and flour. But, it’s flourless and dairy free. This didn’t stop the staff at Hot Chocolate from polishing off each tray I baked while fine-tuning the recipe.
To make this cookie, you will need a 1-inch square cookie cutter. Or plan on cutting the cookies into squares with a knife.
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
½ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
⅓ cup raisins
⅓ cup coarsely chopped Spanish red-skinned peanuts
⅓ cup bittersweet chocolate discs (preferably 64% cacao)
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg whites, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat until a smooth, shiny batter forms, 1 to 2 minutes. Fold in the raisins, peanuts, and chocolate discs.
Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with plastic wrap, leaving a 4-inch overhang on all sides. Transfer the dough to the pan and pat down into the pan to make it even. Cover the dough with the overhanging plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Heat the oven to 350°F. Have a couple of nonstick pans ready or line a couple of half sheet (13 by 18-inch) pans with parchment paper.
Unwrap the dough and place on a work surface. Using a 1-inch square cookie cutter, punch out squares. Smoosh the scraps together and cut out more cookies. Or, cut the dough crosswise into 6 even strips and cut each strip into 6 pieces. Evenly space 12 to 14 cookies on each prepared pan.
Bake one pan at a time for 8 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake until the tops are barely set, another 3 to 5 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
A NEW WAY TO THINK ABOUT COCONUT MACAROONS
makes 20 cookies
WHEN LOOKING TO CREATE a macaroon that resembled a Mounds bars, I deviated from classic coconut macaroon recipes in a few significant ways. I used two kinds of unsweetened coconut—shredded and flaked—for textural variation. (You can find both kinds in the bulk bins at the grocery store.) Instead of condensed milk, I opted for cream of coconut for sweetness, which is pretty much the condensed-milk version of coconut milk. Finally, to give the macaroons a cool shape, I chilled the batter and then packed it into rectangular cookie cutters. Once baked and cooled, I like to dip the bottoms of the macaroons in an array of chocolate, melting ½ cup each (in separate bowls) of bittersweet, milk, and caramelized white chocolate wafers for variety.
To make this cookie, you will need a 1 by 2-inch cookie cutter or a 2-inch-square cookie cutter.
2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut
1½ cups flaked unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon salt
2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez)
6 ounces chocolate of your choice, melted, for dipping
In a bowl, use your hands to mix the shredded and flaked coconut with the salt. Mix in the egg white, followed by the cream of coconut. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, giving the coconut enough time to absorb some of the liquid, at least 2 hours.
Heat the oven to 350°F. Have a nonstick pan ready or line a half sheet (13 by 18-inch) pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
Put a 1 by 2-inch (or 2-inch-square) cutter on the prepared pan. Spoon some of the macaroon batter into the cutter and pack down slightly to create a rectangle. Leave the top spiky. Repeat with the remaining batter, evenly spacing the cookies on the pan.
Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for 5 to 7 minutes more, or until the tops are golden brown. Let the macaroons cool completely on the pan.
Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Dip the bottoms of the cookies into the melted chocolate, shake off the excess, and place on the prepared pans. Refrigerate until set.
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
