Chocolate Eggshell Cookies

I intended to make macarons.  In fact, I intended to perfect the "Rocky Road" macaron. 

There were great visions of a chocolate cookie, marshmallow filling, toasted almonds sprinkled on the slight pudge of excess frosting..... 

Which I thought was a great idea since the original Rocky Road ice cream was invented just up the road from here in Oakland. According to that great source of all obscure knowledge Wikipedia.

However - I got finished with the cookie-making part and made the mistake of eating one. 

OMG. 

Besides, I didn't get the batter quite thin enough, so they puffed a bit too high. Making sandwiching them just too much. Really. So much better *munch* serving them *munch* as stand-alone cookies *munch munch munch*

And then I got out the marshmallow fluff and strawberry jam. It was chaos. But delightful.

You can make your own decisions - stick with the chocolate almondy goodness, or pile on the marshmallow fluff, strawberry jam, peanut butter, whatever floats your boat.

I trust you to do the right thing.

Maybe.

Start off by blitzing the almonds. You want them pulverized. 

 Then toss in the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Use the food processor to blend everything up.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar till soft peaks form. 

Gently add in the white sugar, beating as you go, till you get firm peaks.

Next, fold in half the powdered sugar/almond/cocoa mixture.

Fold in the other half. 

Use a pastry bag (or a gallon ziploc with the corner trimmed off) to pipe little tiny circles on the parchment-lined baking sheets. 

 

Allow to rest on the counter for 1 hour. No touching!!

Bake - one pan at a time - for 20 minutes. Let the cool on the pan.

To serve, you can put them out by themselves - or give people a jar of marshmallow fluff and let them go at it.  

Totally up to you!

Chocolate Eggshell Cookies

Makes several dozen

6 oz slivered almonds

2 c. powdered sugar

4 tsp dark cocoa powder

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 c. white sugar

In a food processor, chop up the almonds until they are as fine as you can get them. Add in the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder and pulse to combine. (Or pour it all into a separate bowl and whisk until mixed)

In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Slowly add in the 1/4 c. of white sugar, beating as you go. Beat until stiff peaks form. 

In two additions, add the almond cocoa mixture, folding it in gently. 

Take a gallon-sized ziploc bag and fill with the dough. Snip off a small corner of the bag. Use this to pipe 1" circles onto parchment-lined baking sheets (I used 4 sheets). Allow cookies to sit for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Bake the cookies, one pan at a time, for 20 minutes a piece. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan before attempting to remove them.