Flourless Chocolate Cookies
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These flourless chocolate cookies are made without butter or flour. Believe me it’s not! Fudgy and rich, you won’t miss the flour or butter in these chocolate flourless cookies!
Believe it or not, I try to restrict the amount of sugar and sweets I eat during the week. I know it’s shocking since this is a dessert and baking blog. But, notice I didn’t say eliminate. No, total sugar elimination is never going to happen around here.
After dinner is over, my brain immediately goes to “what’s for dessert”. But of course I usually have something sweet in the freezer or on the counter from testing recipes. So it’s never too far out of reach. But sometimes, isn’t what you need isn’t a giant chocolate cake or a whole plate of cupcakes, but just one really good cookie or a piece of chocolate.
That’s what these cookies are for you. It’s the perfect ending to dinner that will satisfy your chocolate craving without making you feel guilty in the end.
This cookie believe it or not has no flour, no butter, and will only set you back about a 100 calories. So if you’re like me, you just did some quick math in your head and figured out you can easily have two and feel guilty whatsoever.
I love math. When it involves cookies that is.
How To Make These Flourless Chocolate Cookies
So let’s talk about this cookie a little more shall we as opposed to simply drooling over them. You can still drool while you read. I won’t judge. First of all, like I said this cookie is completely flourless. Now flourless is great for all those flour avoiders out there. It is also what makes this cookie extremely fudgy (hence putting fudge in the name). It’s the same as my flourless fudge brownies. Without the flour to strengthen the cookie, it ends up being very fudgy. And that’s a good thing.
First start by melting your chocolate chips. You can do this in a double boiler or in the microwave. If using the microwave, microwave at 30-second intervals and stir after each time.
Then you want to whip eggs whites in a clean grease free bowl with no trace of egg yolks present so they whip up to full volume. For help on how to separate your eggs, read this post how to separate eggs (6 ways!). Whisk until soft peaks are formed.
You will add 1 cup of sugar to the bowl and continue to whisk. Do this slowly as not to deflate the egg whites. You are essentially making a simple French meringue. The mixture should resemble marshmallow creme. Try not to stick your face in the whole thing. This will take serious restraint. I have faith you can do it.
Then add in the remaining cup of sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt. It will look like a whipped chocolate pudding at this point.
Pro Tip: Make sure you are using unsweetened cocoa powder. There is a difference between dutch and natural!
Then stir in the melted chocolate and chocolate chips. The dough will be very stiff and sticky at this point.
Then the dough is ready to roll!
How To Shape These Flourless Fudge Cookies
This dough will become very stiff and sticky once you add the rest of your ingredients. But that’s what you want for these cookies.
For these cookies I used a 1-inch cookie scoop to get even balls of cookie dough.
Then I like to roll these in my hand to make perfect round balls of cookies.
Pro Tip: I coat my hands in powdered sugar first so the dough doesn’t stick to my hands.
And then I roll them in powdered sugar again so they have that crackly powdered sugar top when they bake.
Recipe Tips
- Melting your chocolate: As far as technique goes. Couple of important things. This cookie calls for melted chocolate. You can melt in the microwave. If you do, just make sure to melt in 30-second intervals so as not to burn the chocolate. Be sure to stir each time. Your chocolate look like it’s not melted, but give it a stir before nuking it another time. Chocolate chips will tend to keep their shape, so stirring is key!
- Room temperature: Second of all, you are using egg whites in this recipe. Not only does this keep the calories nice and low, it is essential in creating a fluffy meringue to which you will add your other ingredients. Just make sure they are room temperature so they whip up to full volume.
- Add your sugar gradually. You want to add it gradually so you don’t deflate your egg white mixture and lose all that volume.
- Watch that baking time. Last thing before I let you run to your kitchen to start whipping up a batch. Just keep an eye on these cookies. Every oven is different. Knowing your oven is key in baking. It’s best to invest in an oven thermometer so you know if your oven runs hot or colder than what it says it’s running at. Mine came out perfectly at 10 minutes. I suggest starting at 8 minutes and go from there. You definitely don’t want to over bake them. That would be such a shame!
- Checking for doneness: For chocolate cookies, sometimes it’s hard to tell when they are done. You can’t rely on the color of the cookies to tell you they are done. So for these cookies you want to be looking for cookies that puffed and slightly cracked on top.
Tips For Whipping The Egg Whites
- Separate your egg whites when they are cold. They will be much easier to separate.
- You want your egg whites at room temperature when you go to whip them. You will never get the maximum height for the meringue if the egg whites are cold. So leave them to sit on your counter for at least 30 minutes until they come to room temperature. If you are in a bit of a hurry, place your container of egg whites in a second container with warm water to bring to them to room temperature faster.
- Make sure your stand mixer bowl and whisk attachment is very CLEAN. Before I whip any egg whites, I give my stand mixer a thorough cleaning just to be sure.
- Start out by whipping your egg whites on low speed until foamy then increase the speed of your mixer to high (my mixer goes up to 10- I set mine at about a 7 for this step)
- Sprinkle in your 1 cup of sugar once the mixture has become opaque.
- You want to whip your egg whites to soft peaks. This will take a few minutes. If you’re not sure, lift the beater out of the egg whites. The peak should fall over immediately, not stand straight up. If you are unsure, just keep stopping your stand mixer every minute and checking. You don’t want to over mix your egg whites!
- The mixture should resemble marshmallow creme. If your egg whites look like cotton floating on a pond, unfortunately you’ve over-beaten them and there’s nothing you can do but throw them in trash and start over. So check frequently friend so this doesn’t happen!
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Flourless Fudge Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (225 g) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips divided
- 3 large egg whites room temperature
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar divided
- 1/2 cup (42 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- additional powdered sugar for rolling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray (or silicon baking mat). Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in glass bowl in microwave, stirring twice, about 2 minutes. Cool slightly.
- Using electric mixer, beat whites in large bowl to soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1 cup sugar. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow creme.
- Whisk in your second cup of sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl to blend. On low speed, beat dry ingredients into meringue. Stir in lukewarm chocolate and 1/2 cup chocolate chips (dough will become very stiff).
- Roll 1 rounded tablespoon dough into ball (can coat in additional sugar if you want).
- Place on prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and tops crack, about 8-10 minutes (don’t overbake!). Cool on sheets on rack 10 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool.
Notes
- Melting your chocolate: As far as technique goes. Couple of important things. This cookie calls for melted chocolate. You can melt in the microwave. If you do, just make sure to melt in 30-second intervals so as not to burn the chocolate. Be sure to stir each time. Your chocolate look like it’s not melted, but give it a stir before nuking it another time. Chocolate chips will tend to keep their shape, so stirring is key!
- Room temperature: Second of all, you are using egg whites in this recipe. Not only does this keep the calories nice and low, it is essential in creating a fluffy meringue to which you will add your other ingredients. Just make sure they are room temperature so they whip up to full volume.
- Watch that baking time. Last thing before I let you run to your kitchen to start whipping up a batch. Just keep an eye on these cookies. Every oven is different. Knowing your oven is key in baking. It’s best to invest in an oven thermometer so you know if your oven runs hot or colder than what it says it’s running at. Mine came out perfectly at 10 minutes. I suggest starting at 8 minutes and go from there. You definitely don’t want to over bake them. That would be such a shame!
- Checking for doneness: For chocolate cookies, sometimes it’s hard to tell when they are done. You can’t rely on the color of the cookies to tell you they are done. So for these cookies you want to be looking for cookies that puffed and slightly cracked on top.
I love this recipe! I do not need gluten free, but this is the best for when a guest is celiac. I just simply love them!
I want to make them for a friend, it’s a large quantity for her. Can they be frozen?
Hi Susan, I’m so glad you love this recipe and yes perfect for a celiac friend! I haven’t tried freezing but I would think they should freeze just fine for up to 2 months. And then thaw at room temperature, uncovered before enjoying.
Hi!
Anyone tried with dairy free chocolate?
Anyone try Raspberry or mint or orange flavours?
Hi Cass, I haven’t tried other flavors but let me know if you do!
Anyone tried using Splenda or half sugar and half Splenda?
Hi Sheryl, I don’t use alternative type sugars like Splenda so I can’t say how they would whip up with the egg whites.
This recipe gave me 13 small cookies. Not 24, nowhere near 24.
HI Liz, Ill go back and check the yield and update this! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
I have no qualms with gluten but these are my go-to chocolate cookies because they are way better than any of their gluten-containing counterparts! These cookies are always a huge hit! And the best part is since they are so light and relatively low in calories…I can eat a few more!
😆
I am always looking for new recipes this time of year (I give cookies as gifts) and I needed a gluten free one for a relative. I just made them and yes, we are keeping these for ourselves, lol!
But I made one small addition – my favorite combination in the world is dark chocolate and cinnamon, so I added 1 tsp of cinnamon to the flour/cocoa mix. OMG, it’s fantastic! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Oh I love hearing comments like this Darren!! And love the idea of adding cinnamon – it does add such an interesting note when paired with chocolate. Will have to try that myself!
Great recipe!! The perfect time for these cookies was seven minutes with my oven. I started looking at them at 6 min. I also use an oven thermometer but I wanted to mention the time in case anyone else has issues with slightly over cooking. Your instructions were clear and very easy to follow. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!!
I made these today for the February Baking Challenge. Yum! I was excited to try a new recipe — especially one that was under 100 calories each. Thank you!
Aw I’m so glad you enjoyed them! And yes you’d never guess they were only about 100 calories 🙂
are you serious?? 2 cups of sugar??
why so much, why would you need so much sweetness, it is unnecessary and over the top!!
I am not even going towards nutritional route,
just taste-wise — why 1cup is not enough or even 1/2 cup??
Hi Marina! Yes 2 cups is accurate. This is a recipe from years ago I found on Food.com and believe it or not even with all the sugar they are still only about 100 calories per cookie. You can try reducing the sugar if you want, but that may affect the overall texture.
Has anyone tried to make this with dairy free chocolate chips? I am allergic to dairy but REALLY want to try these!
I haven’t, but I would imagine it would work just fine! Let me know if you try them with those!
These look wonderful and the fact that they are made without wheat flour works great for us however, do you have an other flavor ideas? Although I LOVE chocolate, hubby is a little more turned on by other flavors.
Thank you! Off the top of my head, I would think Lemon would be delicious. You could use the juice and zest. If the dough doesn’t come together right away without the cocoa powder you could always add almond flour to keep it still gluten free if you need to. Other great options- nutella, and of course you can’t go wrong with peanut butter can you? Let me know if you try something different than chocolate!
Directions a little confusing….Ingredients call for one cup of sugar…you have us adding it gradually to the meringue. The next step…you have us mixing one cup of sugar (didn’t we just use that cup?) with the cocoa and cornstarch and mixing it in. Is it as ingredients say, 1 C of sugar….or 2 Cups of sugar??
Yup you are right! Thanks for catching that! It is 2 cups of sugar divided as the directions said and additional for rolling if you so choose. I just had a little error in the ingredients but it’s all fixed now! You should be all set! My apologies 🙂
I first saw these on Yammie’s Noshery and they are amazing. One tip, let the dough sit for a few minutes before rolling them. They will be easier to work with.
Great! Thanks for the tip!