RECIPE: These are wonderful! REC: Savannah Chocolate Chewies

RECIPE:

sandi-in-hawaii

Well-known member
Hubby has been buying these chocolate chewy cookies from Safeway. When he first bought them, he told me to try them. The cookie snob in me said "I don't eat store bought cookies!" But I looked at the ingredients, and it looked like real ingredients - egg whites, cocoa, pecans, etc.

I tried them, and although I hate to admit it, it was really good! They're like chewy brownies, and they're made with no butter!

This recipe is pretty close. The cookie is lighter in color, so I'll try dutch process instead of natural cocoa the next time. The parchment or silpat on the baking sheet is a must.

Savannah Chocolate Chewies

Yield: 2 dozen chews

From The All-American Cookie Book, by Nancy Baggett

2 cups (8 oz) chopped pecans

2 1/4 cups (8 oz) powdered sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 ¼ oz) unsweetened natural cocoa powder*

2 tablespoons (1/2 oz) all-purpose white flour

Generous pinch of salt

3 large egg whites

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ounce bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, grated (not unsweetened)

*Author calls for natural cocoa. I’m going to try dutch-process the next time I make this.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Spread the pecans in a medium baking pan and toast in the oven, stirring occasionally, for 7-9 minutes, or until fragrant. Immediately turn out into a medium bowl let cool.

Sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, flour and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer.

Beat the egg whites one at a time into the powdered-sugar mixture with an electric mixer on low speed. Add the vanilla and beat for 1 1/2 minutes on high speed, scraping down the sides several times. Fold in the pecans and the chocolate until evenly incorporated. (The dough will be quite liquid, like a cake batter.)

Drop the dough onto the baking sheets by heaping tablespoons, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until dry on the surface but soft in the centers when pressed. Reverse the sheet from front to back halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Slide the cookies, still attached to the parchment onto a wire rack.

Let cool completely, then carefully peel the cookies from the parchment.

The cookies can be stored in an airtight container up to three days or in the freezer for 1 month.

 
Sandi - I was reading over the recipe and it says it's liquidy like cake batter??

So, you drop 1 tbl. of it and it spreads out a lot I assume? Two inches apart didn't seem like enough for something so liquidy.

 
It's a weird mixture, cheezz. It looks like melted chocolate with nuts mixed in.

It was weird - I was sure it was gonna spread out like crazy too, but it didn't. I suppose when you beat it after adding the vanilla, it turns the egg whites into a sorta meringue-like mixture.

That probably added to the chewiness - kinda like a french macaroon, maybe?

I used my half sheet pans to bake, and my tablespoon-sized ice cream scoop to scoop. Placed 12 blobs per sheet, and they didn't run into each other.

p.s. Someone told me that macaroons are going to be the next fad, after the cupcake. Guess I better start practicing now!

 
Question about frozen egg whites - do you freeze them all together and how long do you keep them.

 
I have a ziploc freezer bag that I add to and freeze it flat. Don't know about length of freezing...

 
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