So, maybe I worked out for an hour, came home, made cookies, and ate three of them (totally ingesting more calories than I burned). Is that SO wrong?
To say that these chewy, chocolatey, spiced cookies are irresistible is an understatement. I am going to have to remove myself from the house for a few hours in an attempt to forget about them...until I get home.
It all started with an email from someone on the Martha Stewart team. (Oh hey, Martha. Sure, I can meet you in The Hamptons for spring break.) OK, it didn't actually go like that. They were emailing to let me know about some awesome new products at Macy's and offered to send me samples of a couple of things. (Twist my arm.)
Look! Look! Here is a Martha non-skid bowl! I've always wanted non-skid bowls...I have a thing for bowls. The bowls are a set of three, nesting, with lids!
Well, in the box were more goodies than I expected...including Martha's newest cookbook, A New Way to Bake: classic recipes updated with better-for-you ingredients for the modern pantry. I was not asked to review the book or a try a recipe, but y'all. How could I not?!?
I made Martha's Flourless Double-Chocolate Pecan Cookies, but I added just a little twist. Remember when we were talking about turmeric the other day? Tumeric is not the only spice that's so good for us...cinnamon is, too! And cayenne! So, I added them both to the cookie dough.
The result is a bigger-than-palm-sized (just so happens to be gluten-free) cookie what is chewy, crunchy, chocolatey with just a bit of spice. It doesn't hit you over the head, but it's there.
The recipe makes 11 cookies. We're empty-nesters now, and we're already down 3, so yeah, these should last us through tomorrow evening. Maybe.
So simple to make, you really won't need many ingredients. Eggs not pictured, but everything else is.
Those stunning copper measuring cups and measuring spoons? Martha, of course!
Stir everything but the eggs together. (There's that bowl again! Look at how pretty it reflects the light on the inside, too!)
Add egg whites and stir again until glossy and combined. Bake 'em up!
Flourless Spiced Chocolate Cookies
{adapted from A New Way to Bake from Martha Stewart}
Makes 11
3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch cayenne pepper
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (some fine, some coarse)
4 egg whites, room temperature
Place oven racks on top and bottom thirds of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment. Preheat oven to 325.
Whisk the sugar, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, and cayenne together. Stir in the chopped chocolate and the pecans.
Add the egg whites, stirring until combined. (No need to whip the whites before stirring.)
Use a 1/4 cup cookie scoop or measuring cup to dollop onto the prepared pans.
Bake for 25 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Let the cookies cool on the trays for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
I know I say this a lot, but you need these in your life. You really, really do.
(Martha thinks so, too.)
