They are quick, they are easy, they require few ingredients, they don’t need any beating, rolling, kneading, they help using up leftovers and, most of all, they are incredibly flavoursome! These hazelnut cookies are my second recipe – after chewy coconut cookies - for instant sweet snacks with leftover egg whites. They are inspired by a recipe found in one of the famous Two Fat Ladies‘ autobiography. In fact, Clarissa Dickson Wright, in her second and compelling autobiographical book entitled ” Rifling Through My Drawers“, took an excellent decision to include a recipe after each chapter. The funny thing is her Walnut Biscuits recipe was a transformation of… hazelnut biscuits she appreciated less. Since I had only ground hazelnuts, I somewhat transformed it back.

The second time I was preparing the cookies I forgot to whip up the egg whites and discovered they are even better made this lazy way! The only downside is they don’t want to keep nice round shape, but if you put them in tartlets or muffin forms they’ll spread out neatly. Frankly speaking I don’t mind them looking a bit messy. Hazelnuts can of course be substituted with walnuts, but the soft, moist dark brown cane sugar is obligatory (this is what makes them so chewy). Apart from the hazelnuts, I have modified a bit the ingredients’ amounts.

Click here to see a few ideas of how to use up the remaining egg yolks.

Preparation: 30 minutes

Ingredients (for approx. 15-18 cookies):

2 egg whites

50 g soft moist dark cane sugar

a pinch of salt

1 heaped tablespoon flour

80 g ground hazelnuts (or 55 g powdered and 25 g roughly chopped)

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Combine all the ingredients.

With a tablespoon put dollops of the mixture on baking paper.

Bake for about 20 minutes until they are set, but still a bit soft.