Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (FAIL)

The "chocolate powder" got me really excited so I just had to test it out but what to make?! I did not have much in my pantry and although I've got some flour - I still have absolutely no clue what to do with this Whole Wheat Pastry Flour. Soooo... that means flourless PB cookies! But you will see in a bit why this blog is labeled as "FAIL".

I first had flourless PB cookies about a year ago when I was up in NH doing some maple sugaring. Our host's wife is allergic to gluten so she baked flourless PB cookies for us. We had no idea the cookies were flourless because they were soft and chewy just like regular cookies. Anyway, we thought her cookies were so delicious and immediately asked her for the recipe. When she told us, chunky peanut butter, egg whites, and sugar - we were shocked. No butter and flour but yet so yummy?! I must try!

I have baked these in the past with much success but like I promised earlier - you will see why... I'm too stubborn. Set your oven to 325 degrees.


Remember those egg whites from the egg custard recipe? Well here they are and put to some good use. :)



Now, whip the egg whites until they form a soft peak. I am not baker, at least, not a real baker. I do not own any machine whipper or whatever you call those things. Hand mixer? Anyway, I whipped mine by hand (fell off) until it formed a soft peak and in other words, the whites were now stiff enough that they will not drip even if you flip the bowl upside down. I flipped mine to test it.



My favorite kind of PB! I love how that bear is totally striking a pose. I used about a cup.



In a bowl, add PB, sugar (3 tablespoons is about sweet enough), and bittersweet chocolate powder (1 tablespoon, and I understand they were not called for in the original recipe, but I'm Anna, so I'm going to add this). Mix well. My egg whipper is going to be making an appearance throughout this post.



Now, fold in the egg whites about a 1/4 amount at a time. The texture will get creamier and creamier.



But why stop here, right? I was so upset about not knowing what to do with Whole Wheat Pastry Flour that I decided to add in a good tablespoon of it here. Because for some reason, I just thought that it might magically work itself out in this recipe.



After some good folding and mixing, the mixture started to look pretty promising. I actually thought, for a moment, that it might all work out in the end and I will end up with some delicious cookies. [play buzzer sound]



Lightly butter the cookie sheet. I love this part only because I get to use butter.



Using a measuring spoon (or any other ball-shape making utensils you like) to scoop the dough onto the cookie sheet.



Spoon some chocolate powder on top of the cookies.



One extra for good luck. I really needed it especially when I tweaked the recipe like this. Pop them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes. I baked mine for 20.



Take them out and cool them on a rack. So far, not bad looking.



Okay, the cookies had a nice chewy texture but it was just a bit dry. They weren't terrible but just not the best. I think maybe all purpose flour might have worked out okay but with whole wheat pasty flour, I probably should have also added a whole stick of butter.



It's a good recipe. Just don't add flour.