Ooey Gooey Rocky Road Cookies

Attention chocolate lovers.  This ooey gooey rocky road cookie is for you.  Grab a cold glass of milk to go alongside because this cookie is decadent.  It's rich.  It's uber chocolaty.  In fact it's the most chocolaty cookie I've ever had...out-chocolating even this cookie.  I'm not exaggerating...not even a little.  This is serious chocolate business! 

Where did this amazingly delicious ooey gooey cookie come from?  A fabulous (new to me) blog that I discovered through Secret Recipe Club.  Before I tell you more about this fab blog, here's a little bit about Secret Recipe Club.  Once a month Secret Recipe Club members are each assigned another member's blog.  You check out your assigned blog, find a recipe, bake it or make it and then blog it.  Your assignment is a "secret" until everyone reveals their posts on the same day and time.  It's a great group, founded by Amanda Formaro of Amanda's Cookin' that grew from a dozen or so members to 300+ members in the past year.  The group has gotten so large there's a waiting list to participate.  If you are interested in joining, head over to the SRC site and check out the "Join SRC Section."  I always look forward to SRC every month.  It's fun to get your blog assignment and start browsing.  Choosing which recipe to make is probably the hardest part!  My problem is I usually find 3 or 4 or 10 I really want to make.  That was no exception this month. 


I had the pleasure of being assigned Joanne's blog, Fifteen Spatulas.  Fifteen Spatulas is beautiful blog containing an abundance of recipes, both savory and sweet and is named after her expansive collection of her favorite kitchen tool, the spatula.  Joanne's blog is filled with what she calls scrapeworthy recipes.  If her photos are any indication...they are indeed worthy of scraping your plate clean and possibly licking it too.  I loved reading about Joanne's journey and I totally admire her for following her passion...food.  To read about her story click here.  Joanne's passion comes through in every aspect of her blog, from her gorgeous photos, to her detailed yet approachable recipe instructions.  Joanne believes in teaching her readers the reason why a recipe calls for certain techniques and she even has a number of fun instructional videos.  I went a little nuts and bookmarked 9 recipes I wanted to try. 

But this ooey gooey rocky road cookie recipe drew me in.  Rocky road has always been a favorite ice cream flavor and the cookie version looked pretty stunning.  With a fudgey flourless chocolate cookie base studded with toasted almonds and chocolate chips, topped with golden brown gooey marshmallows, I knew this cookie would be a winner.  It has a crackly exterior and a positively gooey interior.  Gooey is a good thing in my book.  As stated previously, this cookie is not for the chocolate faint of heart.  Luckily I'm a chocolate girl through and through. 



The dough/batter comes together easily. But I did I encounter a couple of issues in execution...I had trouble removing the cookies from the parchment paper once they were baked.  This recipe has no fat (i.e., butter) in it which usually helps a cookie slide right off parchment paper.  I think the gooey marshmallows melted down through the cookie and stuck to the paper.  Next time I make these I will spray the parchment with non stick cooking spray.  I also under baked the cookies the first go round.  It was hard to tell they were under baked until they were cooled and I attempted to remove them from the baking sheet.  When half the dough was raw on the underside, they had to take a trip back to the oven.   Despite my challenges, the cookies still tasted fantastic.  Did I mention these cookies are amazingly chocolaty?  The almonds add a nice crunch and the marshmallows are pillows of sweet gooey goodness.  Delish!  I'm thinking these cookies would be great alongside vanilla ice cream. 

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Joanne's has a great video on how to make these cookies.  Click here to check it out. 

Enjoy!

Ooey Gooey Rocky Road Cookies
from Fifteen Spatulas

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 extra large egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
2.5 ounces chopped or slivered, toasted, almonds (to toast almonds, heat oven to 350 and place almonds on foil lined baking sheet and bake until golden, about 10 minutes)
1 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl sift powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  Whisk in salt.  Add egg whites and vanilla and whisk until combined and batter is smooth.  Stir in chocolate chips and almonds.  *Chill batter in refrigerator for 1 hour to help prevent spreading in the oven.  Using a medium size cookie scoop, portion out 12 cookies on each baking sheet.  Place 4-5 marshmallows on top of each cookie.  Place the baking sheets in the freezer for 5 minutes (or fridge for 10-15 minutes) to chill cookies to prevent them from spreading too much in the oven.  Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes.  Allow to cool on the baking sheets for at least 5 minutes and then transfer cookies to wire rack to finish cooling. 

Note: My cookies stuck to the parchment paper and were very delicate to remove.  Next time I make these I will spray the parchment with non stick cooking spray.

*Updated 10/8/2012