Flourless Chocolate Pecan Cookies may not seem very holidayish, but here in Texas they sure are. The holiday season is also pecan season, so anything with pecans qualifies as "Christmas-y". Or at least that's my theory.

Flourless Chocolate Pecan Cookies
To make the cookies, you first toast pecans. While the toasted pecans cool, you mix together confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, salt and chocolate bits. You then stir in the pecans and egg white (which does not need to be whipped, btw).

Naturally Gluten-Free!
These pecan cookies will be a hit at any cookie swap. These are flourless and naturally gluten-free. They're a little chewier and richer than my Texas Pecan Chewies (which are also excellent but slightly crispier), and they freeze well if you need to make them ahead of time. Enjoy!
Recipe

Flourless Double Chocolate Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups coarsely chopped pecans (160 grams)
- 3 cups powdered sugar (330-340 grams)
- ¾ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder (60 grams)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chopped
- 3-4 large egg whites, room temperature (105 to 130 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the pecan halves on a baking sheet and toast for about 7 minutes or until pecans are aromatic. Alternatively, you can toast them in a large skillet. Let the pecans cool.
- Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, sift together powdered sugar, cocoa and salt. Stir in chopped chocolate and chopped pecans. Add three of the egg whites and stir with a heavy duty scraper or large mixing spoon until mixture is shiny. If it is very thick, crack the fourth egg and drizzle in a little white, stirring until mixture is a little looser, but still holds its shape when dropped.
- Using a generously heaping tablespoon measure, drop mounds of batter about 3 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake until cookie tops are dry and crackled, about 20 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for about 5 to 8 minutes, then carefully peel away from parchment and let cool completely.
Anna says
Hi Nadine,
Thanks for trying the recipe! I'm glad you liked these. I sent you an email and mentioned you should try the Pecan Chewies/Pecan Crispies too.
I just tested this one again and think the reason your batter was runny was due to the size of the egg whites. This is why I'm now adding weights to everything, and this was an old recipe that didn't have weights. So I added a range of egg white amount and am recommending starting with 3 (or about 95 grams) and adding the fourth egg white gradually until the batter is just thick enough to hold its shape. It should still be pretty loose.
In addition I added the weights of the sugar and cocoa powder, so hopefully that will help too. The sugar was measured straight out of the canister and sifted after, so the total amount was about 330-340 grams. If you sifted it first, you might have used less. The type of cocoa powder is also important. I've been testing these with natural, which is somewhat drying, so if you by chance used Dutch process that could have caused a looser batter. But my guess is it's probably just a slightly difference in sizes of the egg whites, so start with a smaller amount of whites and add a little more as needed.
Nadine Bailey says
Omg these were exactly what I was trying to copy the stew Leonard's chewy pecan cookies they were amazing the taste was spot on my only question is they didnt puff up and have the air bubbles in them like steel Leo's cookies and they werent as crackled on the top and as shiny can you tell me how to fix this oh and they didnt stay separated into cookie balls it turned into a sheet of cookies I cut them into squares and let them cool and again the taste was perfect I just need to tweak something have them hold a cookie shape and raise a little please help me with this I want to perfect this recipe..I did put in fridge for 40 minutes before baking I baked at 325 like it said idk what I did wrong.. help me pls thanks so much
Baby June says
Woah those look like my kind of cookie! So chewy and chocolatey 🙂