Oh my word Cookies!

I have a party trick that is so easy and never fails to impress.  Although they might not look amazing in the pictures taken here, they are delicious and chewy and to die for!

I originally found this recipe for Chocolate puddle cookies on www.101cookbooks.com, one of my favourite reads on food, but made an error with the 'confectioners sugar'.  What the hell is that? I live in South Africa, we don't have 'confectioners sugar'.  So, I substituted with icing sugar... and boy, it was one of the best mistakes I've ever made!  The cookies came out meringue-ish and chewy and amazing!

Then I realised that 'confectioners sugar' might be castor sugar.  So, I tried a batch of that... but it didn't work half as good as the icing sugar.

Here's my version of the ultimate Chocolate Puddle Cookie:

• 3 cups chopped and toasted walnuts
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 4 large egg whites at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla essence

Spoon them onto non-stick sprayed parchment paper.
Bake at 160 degrees celcius for 12 minutes. They will puff up and then settle down.

Last Saturday morning I was in the mood for baking, but didn't have any cocoa powder or walnuts left... so, I improvised and came up with a slight variation of the same recipe.

• 4.5 cups shredded coconut
• 4 cups icing sugar
• pinch of salt
• 4 large egg whites at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon almond essence

Bake at 160 degrees celcius for 15-20 minutes.  These took a bit longer, just keep checking on them.

They came out amazing and tasted just like baked coconut ice... I'm not sure if it's a South African thing, but it was one of my favourites growing up.