No-Flour Hazelnut, Chocolate and Cinnamon Cookies

Zurie's Note:

This is a recipe by famed Johannesburg caterer and confectioner, Tony Scorgie, and I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this with you. Tony has the amazing ability to "throw together" things and create great food. If using Splenda or Sugalite (South Africa) it should be a fairly diabetic-friendly recipe.

• Total Time: 27 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 18 cookies

• 4 ½ ounces hazelnuts , ground (130 g)
• 5 ounces confectioners' sugar (150 g icing sugar)
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 ounces cocoa powder , plus extra to dust (50 ml)
• 4 egg whites , largest size
• 4 tablespoons superfine sugar (castor sugar, or use sugar substitute)
• 3 ½ ounces chocolate chips , preferably the dark kind (100 g)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 deg F/160 deg C, and line a baking tray with nonstick paper.
2. Mix the ground hazelnuts (weighed after being ground), confectioner's sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder in a bowl.
3. Whisk the egg whites and superfine (castor) sugar together until stiff peaks form.
4. Fold in the hazelnut mixture and dark choc chips.
5. Spoon tablespoons of the mixture on the tray, but leave about 2 inches between each spoonful to allow for spreading.
6. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Lift out on to a cake rack. Dust with cocoa powder.

Reviews

[Chef Dudo]

These were easy to make and thank you for the measurements in metric! I got 23 fairly large cookies and they baked for 14 minutes. When done they were rather brittle and gooey (wet) and we found them very sweet. I think they would benefit from omitting the chocolate chips, it would make them less sweet (even though I used the dark kind) and possibly make them stay together. Will try that. Thanks for posting.