Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Need a chocolate fix? Well hold onto your tastebuds, these chocolate pecan cookies will knock your socks off!! 

I got the idea for these cookies from a recipe for 'brownie cookies' that used wheat flour, but I decided to try ground pecans instead. I'm always looking for ways to make gluten free (or even grain free), dairy free treats that are even better than their original wheat and dairy counterparts... I love pecans and chocolate together, and I was hoping the pecans would give these a chewy 'brownie' texture. They did!  I also changed the sugar to Rapadura, which gives them a richer flavour, and is of course better for you than refined sugar.

I promised to post this recipe ages ago, but I needed some photos, so today my daughter Cassia helped me make these again. (She loves to use the Thermomix, and is always quite happy to pose for photos.) I also invited my Quirky Cooking Facebook friends to join in the baking fun! A few of us baked 'together' via the internet, exchanging hints and tips as we cooked. (Check out some of their tips and variations below the recipe.) We'll have to do some cooking together again via Facebook - it was a lot of fun!

So here's the recipe - please let me know how you like it in the comments below. Recipe makes about 40 cookies.

1. Chop for 8 seconds on speed 6:

- 220g dairy free dark chocolate, broken in pieces (I use Lindt 70% cocoa - it's dairy free; or you could make your own!)

2. Melt chocolate at 50 degrees for 3 minutes on speed 1.

3. Add and mix for 20 seconds, speed 8:

- 150g pecans

- 3 eggs

- 1 tsp dry, instant coffee (or raw cacao powder)

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 120g Rapadura

- 1/4 tsp sea salt

- 1/4 tsp bicarb soda (opt.)

The mixture will be thick and sticky, not quite as thick as usual cookie dough. Try not to eat all the raw mixture - I know, it's hard!

The raw mixture is soooo yummy!

4. Drop by heaped teaspoonfuls onto lined baking trays and bake at 160 degrees C for about 11-15 minutes, until cookies have risen and cracked slightly. You don't want to overcook them, as they are supposed to be slightly 'gooey' in the centre - just barely baked through! Leave on trays for 5 mins, then remove to cooling rack. They will sink down as they cool and become flatter and chewy. 

If you can manage to keep everyone from scoffing them all straight away, store them in an airtight container in the fridge - they taste delicious cold!

P.S. I think next time I'd better double or triple this recipe!

Tips and Variations:

Phiazy used a mixture of almonds and hazelnuts instead of the pecans - her cookies were a little firmer, and puffed up a little more. She also used a mixture of dark and milk chocolate, and sugar instead of Rapadura (because she didn't have any). Actually, she forgot the sugar in the first batch, but she said they were still yummy (since she didn't use 70% cocoa chocolate, so they were pretty sweet already) - they were just a little flatter. So if you don't use dark, 70% cocoa chocolate, make sure you cut down on the sugar!

Raelene made these the old-fashioned way - she doesn't have a Thermomix (yet!)... She chopped the chocolate, melted it in a double-boiler, got water in it and had to start again, ran out of chocolate and had to go to the shop again, used 100g pecans plus 50g almond meal (but found she needed more almond meal because the mixture was too thin), and used raw sugar because she'd run out of Rapadura - but they still worked! She decided next time she'd use Rapadura plus add some raw cacao powder to make them richer and more chocolatey. Despite her setbacks, Raelene decided these were definitely worth making, and even worth the extra trip to the shop!!

Jessica made these using macadamia nuts instead of pecans - yummo!!