Chocolate Puddle Cookies

Ingredients

• 3 cups / 11 oz / 310 g walnut halves, toasted & cooled
• 4 cups / 1 lb / 453 g confectioner’s (powdered) sugar (White sugar)
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons / 2 oz / 60 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 4 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon real, good-quality vanilla extract
• *bleached almonds

Equipment

• Cooling rack 
• Baking sheet
• parchment paper
• mortar and pestle 
• Sifter
• Bowls for egg whites, and yolk to go into

Preparation:
If you don’t have fine grained sea salt. Use normal sea salt and use the pestle and mortar to grinder it up.
** We have pre-chopped walnuts.

 Instructions:
1.) Preheat oven to 320F and position racks in the top and bottom third. Line three (preferably rimmed) baking sheets with parchment paper. Or you can bake in batches with fewer pans.
2.) Bake your walnuts and if you added bleached almonds back them too. For about 3 minutes, than stir, than another three minutes  Bake at 350F.  Set aside.

3.) Sift together the confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder, and sea salt. Stir in the walnuts, then add the egg whites and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

4.) Spoon the batter onto the prepared sheets in mounds of about 1 tablespoons each, allowing for PLENTY of room between cookies. These cookies will  really expand. Don’t try to get more than 6 cookies on each sheet, and try to avoid placing the batter too close to the edge of the pan.

5.) Bake until they puff up/flatten out. The tops should get glossy, and then crack a bit - about 12 -15 minutes.  You may want to rotate the pans top/bottom/back/front.

Slide the cookies still on parchment onto a cooling rack, and let them cool completely.
Enjoy!