Dark Chocolate Almond Meringue Cookies (GF)
These Dark Chocolate Almond Meringue Cookies are studded with sliced almonds for a sweet treat that’s naturally gluten-free and totally delicious!
Dark chocolate. Almonds. Crispy. Chewy. Melt-in-your-mouth. Rich. Light. Fudgy. Somehow, all these words perfectly describe this cookie. It’s an experience in and of itself. It’s naturally gluten-free, no substitutions needed to be made. This is just how it is supposed to be, and it’s glorious.
I was first introduced to this sort of cookie when I was working at Claire’s on Cedros, in the bakery. Claire used to make a recipe super similar to this, but she used powdered sugar, and cocoa powder, I think. To be honest, I don’t completely remember the recipe, even though I used to make them, but those cookies were darn good and had always been one of my favorite treats from the bakery.
I was reintroduced to these cookies while staying at my friend Mariah’s house a few weeks ago. Her mom is gluten-free and had a similar style meringue cookie sitting on the counter. Between three friends and I, we polished off the box of cookies…and they were big cookies. I knew I wanted to recreate them at home, but had sort of forgotten about them because I hadn’t put them on my handy “to-bake” list.
However, after making my mom’s birthday cake (which you’ll see next post) and being left with three egg whites, I remembered them. I kind of improvised on the recipe, using granulated sugar instead of powdered, like we did in the restaurant, and adding in a ton of melted chocolate instead of the cocoa powder for a fudgier, chewier cookie. A full cup of sliced almonds gives them some bite and makes for a fuller cookie. And the crust as these came out of the oven…wow. You know that shattery crust that is on top of all the best brownies? The shiny, perfect layer that all brownie recipes strive for? Well, imagine that as an encasement for a cookie. It’s wonderful! All in all, this is one of my new go-to gluten free cookies, along with last weeks Chocolate Fudge Crinkle Cookies! If you happen to get stuck with some egg whites…be sure to make these. You will most definitely not regret it!
Dark Chocolate Almond Meringue Cookies (GF)
- Yield: 2 dozen cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites (room temperature)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 9 ounces dark chocolate (melted and cooled to room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup sliced almonds (or chopped nuts of choice)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat egg whites, slowly adding in sugar, until the mixture holds soft peaks and resembles marshmallow creme.
- Add in chocolate, vanilla and almonds and mix on low until combined. The batter should be thick.
- On a lined baking sheet, drop spoonfuls of batter about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes on baking sheet, and then transfer to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
These cookies look drool worthy good!
Looks delicious! Guess you put your egg whites to good use! :)
I only had two eggs. It took about 15 min. To get to the soft peak stage but the cookies came out great anyway. I love this recipe.
actually amazing
I had an abundance of egg whites as I have been making a lot of ice cream as of late so I decided to try this recipe via web search. Beware, not all web recipes work. This is one of them. The batter was much too syrupy and did not even hold a shape…softer than pancake batter. So I wasted the almond and the chocolate. Lesson learned.
Hi Mike, sorry the cookies didn’t work for you. However, the directions state to bring the egg whites to soft peaks so that they have a marshmallow creme-like consistency, so if they weren’t at that consistency or the chocolate wasn’t cooled, the batter would be too soft, but otherwise, that shouldn’t have been an issue. However, I am sorry that the batter didn’t hold up. I hope it still tasted good!
If I don’t have an electric mixer at hand, can I just use a whisk and manually mix it?
thank you!
You can, but make sure you get it to that soft peak texture or they won’t turn out right! It might take a while by hand.
These cookies are delicious and a great alternative for someone who cannot have gluten, but wants cookies! The only thing is I either over whipped the eggs or I would bake them at a lower temperature. The tops hardened during baking and the batter oozed out of the sides, so it doesn’t exactly look like the picture. It almost looks like a fried egg, where the yoke is the crusted top and the white is the batter that oozed out the sides.
★★★★
How odd that that happened, Joe! Sorry you had some trouble, but glad you enjoyed the taste regardless. Thanks for your feedback!
I made these substituting 2/3 c pure golden maple syrup for the sugar and they turned out perfectly. They are a great option if you avoid refined sugars! Having all the ingredients at room temperature is key and takes some patience!
★★★★★
So glad that substitution worked out well for you – thanks for sharing your feedback, Michelle.
These are yummy and easy -peasy IF you follow instructions, which includes room temp egg whites and beating them until the consistency of marshmallow cremeand taking out of the oven after 12 minutes.
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed them Sharon!