Gluten Free Chocolate Pavlova Cookies. Whether you bake gluten free or not, you’ll never throw out leftover egg whites again when you discover these decadent cookies.
Gluten Free Chocolate Pavlova Cookies.
You may have seen lots of photos that look much like these gluten free chocolate pavlova cookies, particularly on Pinterest.
The recipes are all quite similar as well, if you look at them closely. I tried several of them before tweaking this recipe to make it work best for me.
Gluten Free Chocolate Pavlova Cookies
I wanted a crispy edge and overall stable structure to the cookie with a soft chewy centre. A couple of the recipes I tried had a batter that was too liquid and spread everywhere.
Another was too dry with a little too much cocoa I think which ended up with a tasty but far too crispy cookie.
Gluten Free Chocolate Pavlova Cookies
I decided to adjust the ingredient amounts myself and add a couple of tricks I’d learned before. The best tweaks were inspired by making one of my favourite meringue based desserts, a simple pavlova.
The trick to getting a crispy pavlova with a soft centre is to add a little corn starch and a relatively tiny amount of vinegar to the meringue.
Gluten Free Chocolate Pavlova Cookies ready for the oven.
Since these cookies are basically an unwhipped meringue I decided to apply that technique to these cookies. It was just an experiment but it worked like a dream.
They turned out perfect.
I like to use 50% dark chocolate chips but you can use semisweet as well.
Some more tips for these pavlova cookies:
One note that I always try to include in cookie recipes has to do with even slight variations between oven temperatures. It’s practically impossible to write a standard baking time into a chewy cookie recipe.
Sift the icing sugar (powdered sugar) to ensure no lumps in the batter.
Sift the cocoa as well.
Chocolate Pavlova Cookies finished batter.
The difference between a chewy cookie and an overbaked cookie can be as little as a minute in many ovens, so I always suggest
- getting the oven well preheated
- get the cookie sheet into the oven as fast as possible so the heat will come back up quickly
- with any new cookie recipe bake a test batch of only 2 or 3 cookies to get the oven timing perfect before baking the rest of the batch.
- be sure to make a note on the recipe of the exact time that they were in the oven for when you bake the cookies next time.
Add a few chips to the top as well, if you like.
Originally published sept. 2014. Updated December 2020.
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Gluten Free Chocolate Pavlova Cookies
Whether you bake gluten free or not, you'll never throw out leftover egg whites again when you discover these decadent Gluten Free Chocolate Pavlova Cookies.
Ingredients
- 3 cups icing sugar, powdered sugar measured and then sifted
- 2/3 cup cocoa, measured and then sifted
- 2 tsp corn starch
- pinch salt
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp plain white vinegar
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Both icing sugar, salt and cocoa are prone to clumping so it is important to sift them through a sieve before using them in this recipe.
- Sift together the icing sugar, cocoa and corn starch.
- Mix in the egg whites until smooth.
- Blend in the vanilla extract and vinegar until smooth, then fold in the chocolate chips.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
- Spoon the cookie batter by rounded teaspoons onto the prepared cookies sheets, about 2 to 3 inches apart. These spread quite a bit so give them plenty of room. (You can sprinkle on a few extra chocolate chips at this point if you like. It makes them look even more appealing when baked.
- Bake for approximately 15 minutes until the cookies have a crackled appearance at the edges and might still look very slightly shiny at the center. It is best to do a test bake of a couple of cookies tot get the baking time right, as is suggested in the NOTE in this recipe.
- These cookies will be very hot and soft when they come out of the oven, so be sure to let them cool completely on the pan for about 15-20 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
One note that I always try to include in cookie recipes has to do with even slight variations between oven temperatures. It's practically impossible to write a standard baking time into a chewy cookie recipe. The difference between a chewy cookie and an overbaked cookie can be as little as a minute in many ovens, so I always suggest
1) getting the oven well preheated
2) get the cookie sheet into the oven as fast as possible so the heat will come back up quickly
3) with any new cookie recipe bake a test batch of only 2 or 3 cookies to get the oven timing perfect before baking the rest of the batch.
4) be sure to make a note on the recipe of the exact time that they were in the oven for when you bake the cookies next time.
Recommended Products
Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.
Nutrition Information
Yield
18Serving Size
1 servingAmount Per Serving Calories 162Total Fat 3gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 1gCholesterol 0mgSodium 21mgCarbohydrates 33gFiber 1gSugar 30gProtein 2g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Margaret Griffiths
Monday 2nd of August 2021
Barry thank you for this fabulous recipe. My 2 year old grandson has a rare allergy called FPIES. His allergy includes gluten. This recipe is perfect and he loved the cookies. He misses out on a lot Thank you. I'm going to try them using peanut butter chips next.
Rani
Friday 30th of July 2021
What could be the substitute for egg? I would like to make them eggless.
Roselyn
Monday 8th of June 2020
This is the third time I've made these cookies, but it's the first time I noticed that I should preheat the oven AFTER the batter is made! It made a world of difference in how the cookies turn out. Now they look like the ones in your photos! Thanks, Barry for making the recipe so step by step...and I'll be more careful to follow those steps going forward!
Aria
Wednesday 27th of May 2020
Hello, can I substitute corn starch with another type of starch, like tapioca or arrowroot?
Christina
Saturday 18th of January 2020
Initially, my only change to the recipe was that I used miniature chocolate chips instead of regular because that's what I had.
Great suggestion on test baking a couple of cookies before going all in. Baking time of 15 minutes was perfect, but mine were a wee bit flat and too sweet for my liking. Checked my cupboard for ideas and improvised on the fly. Stirred in 1/2 cup of ground pecans (for extra structure) and 1 cup of chopped pecans (for extra texture). Oh my yum! I'm sure walnuts or hazelnuts would've worked just as well. I know this makes the cookies un-Pavlova-ish, but they're still crispy, chewy, gluten and dairy free.