I pulled this recipe out of Good Housekeeping magazine this month. We do not follow a gluten free diet at our house, but one of our favorite babysitters does. I thought I better try these out and make them the next time she comes over. They also only have six ingredients, which makes throwing them together so easy. And to top it off, each cookie only has 135 calories and 4 grams of fat. Not bad, as far as sweets and cookies are concerned. But nothing prepared me for how good these would be! If you love dark chocolate, or any chocolate at all for that matter, you will love these. They are almost like chocolate meringue. Light and fluffy, but rich and decadent. You have to try them, they will not disappoint. Enjoy!
Chocolate Volcano Cookies:
1 lb confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 t. salt
4 large egg whites
1 T. vanilla
1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lightly spray paper with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, stir powdered sugar, cocoa and salt. Add egg whites and vanilla. Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add chocolate chips. Stir well. Set aside for 5 minutes. Drop by rounded spoonfuls, about a dozen per cookie sheet. Bake 13-15 minutes, until set and cracked. Let cool on cookie sheet about 5 minutes. Carefully transfer to wire rack to cool.
Cookie's Crumbles 
These cookies look incredible! So shiny and chocolatey 🙂
I think you must beat the egg whites??
I did NOT beat them before I added them. The original recipe did not say to beat them. Wonder what would happen if you did?
Thanks for the response–a friend is making them for Easter and I’ll get a chance to taste them. Helen
No beating the egg whites just add them to the dry ingredients and mix with wooden spoon. It does seem odd but they come out so good.
I tried this recipe and followed it to a t. It was too soupy and just ran all over the cookie sheet. What am I doing wrong. I so want to make these for a friend. Please help!
hi wendi, not sure what happened? when i made them, the dough was actually very, very hard to stir because it was so thick. did you beat the egg whites? someone else asked if i was supposed to beat them first. i did NOT beat them and just poured the egg whites in. if anyone else has made these, please let me know how they’ve turned out!
I think the issue could be fresh egg whites vs. ready to use. I was making these for Easter and used the ready to use variety and my mixture was also very soupy. The egg white container said that 3/4 c. = the whites of 4 large eggs. In hindsight this was way too much liquid. Since my family enjoyed the chewy chocolate ‘pancakes’ I created, I’ll try this recipe again – using real egg whites.
Just made them and I did not beat the egg white just added as stated in the recipe. They came out perfect. It does seem weird when your mixing them with the wooden spoon and are somewhat stiff while mixing, however after sitting for 5 min. they did liquify somewhat for scooping.
Ok, I finally got around to baking these. I followed the recipe to a T also, weighing the sugar with a postage meter even. I’m with Wendi. They were a complete mess! Runny. I ended up pouring the batter into a pie pan and backing the rest like a mushy browny–not what I’ll be taking to dinner with friends tomorrow night. I used fresh large eggs, and only beat them enough to break them down, not into a froth. Anyone have this experience and know how to fix it?
bummer, not sure what the deal is. one of the comments below was that the mixture was really stiff, but you’re saying it’s really runny. i only made them this one time and they turned out for me. i’m sorry they are not working out for some of you 😦
Waste of time and money. I followed the recipe exactly and all I got was a mess of spread out ‘cookie’ stuck to the paper, I couldn’t even pull it off the paper to try and selvage the crumbs to use for anything. Yes I sprayed the paper just as the directions said. I had planned to take them to a church cookie swap tonight, I’ll have to bake something that I know works.
not sure why everyone is having trouble with this recipe. it was something i clipped right out of better homes and gardens and mine turned out great the first time i tried them. i will be deleting this post as something is obviously not working for everyone else. i’m sorry to everyone that tried these and they didn’t work 😦
I actually clipped the original recipe from better homes and garden and used it. When it failed I went online to find out if anyone else had the problems I had and came across your site.
So, I know this is an old post, but I’m doing some research on this recipe… The first time I had these cookies, it was from a bakery and they had walnuts in them, as well. I was completely obsessed, and made sure to keep them in our house. Then the bakery shut down and I’ve been looking for the recipe for eight years! I, too, stumbled across the Better Homes & Gardens recipe and recreated them, using my Kitchenaid stand mixer (because I’m lazy and can turn it on and let it do it’s thing) with the whisk attachment. I added a whole bag of chocolate chips and a half a bag of chopped walnuts. They turned out EXACTLY like the bakery version. Then, this weekend, my husband requested them with peanut butter chips and no nuts. I used all the same ingredients (same bag of sugar, same carton of eggs, etc), and this time mixed them by hand. The PB version spread so thin that they are like hard little chocolate wafers.
So the differences, in my case, we’re stand mixer vs hand mixing, less stir ins, and the weather. The first batch was made on a hot, sunshiny day, whereas the second was made on an evening after which it had rained all day. I’m a novice, self taught baker, so I’m shooting in the dark here, but maybe this is the kind of recipe that humidity screws with? I will be trying again, in any case, because when they are right, they are SO RIGHT.
Sorry for the long discussion, but yours was the only page that I found with mixed reviews reflecting my second experience.
Jprdan–you are so right about the effect of humidity on egg whites and you seldom see it mentioned on a recipe. I always look at the weather forecast and plan accordingly when working with egg whites. Helen
Helen! I’m so glad to see a reply here. We are having a July 4th potluck at work tomorrow and these cookies have been requested. I want to make them again, but I’ll just be using what I have on hand- less than 12 oz of chocolate chips and no nuts. The weather here has been warm for days with no rain, and my mixer is ready. 😉 I’m thinking of trying mini marshmallows mixed in? Send me good vibes!
Good vibes sent..