Forgotten cookies aren’t really cookies – they’re technically meringues. If done right, these treats fall somewhere between a chewy praline and chocolate chip marshmallows. They’re also a bit nougaty.
The trick to is to not overcook them. Don’t heat the oven for too long or else you’ll end up with crunchy chocolate nut clouds, which are fine in their own right but so much better when they’re just a bit chewy.
This recipe calls for pecans, but since those are near impossible to find in Beirut, I used walnuts. Some purists might say, why make them at all? Can’t you leave well enough alone?
Apparently not. But also, the beauty of this recipe is that it somehow makes walnuts taste like pecans. Like, more than they taste like walnuts.*
I first came across forgotten cookies when I was looking through a family cookbook, and was surprised to find a recipe I didn’t recognize. I assumed they were something my mother and her siblings had grown up with and then forgot to pass on to the next generation.
Turns out they came from a neighbor of my grandparents’ in Pass Christian, Mississippi – long after my mom had grown up. So much for a cool origin story.
A great year-round treat, forgotten cookies are especially appropriate for both winter and spring holidays, since you can shape them into blobs that resemble snowmen or lambs. They are also alarmingly sugary, in the best kind of way.
*It is very possible I think this because I haven’t had pecans in over a year. Use pecans if you can.
Forgotten Cookies
Ingredients
2 egg whites
⅔ cups granulated sugar
pinch salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup chocolate chips or chopped milk chocolate
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 177C/350F.
2. Beat the egg whites until foamy.
3. Add the sugar, salt, and extract. Continue to whisk until stiff.
4. Fold in the chocolate and nuts until completely incorporated.
5. Drop by the teaspoon on an ungreased cookie sheet wrapped in foil, or preferably on a silicone baking mat.
6. Put them in the oven and turn off the heat. Forget about them for a while (2 hours-overnight).
Makes about 24 cookies
theyellowlunchbox 