Francois Payard's Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

These rich and gooey chocolate-walnut cookies are almost too good to be kosher for passover. The egg whites add a light, almost meringuey texture, but the brownie-like fudginess from the powdered sugar and cocoa powder (happily) takes over. They're available all year long at Payard's upper east side patisserie, but at nearly four dollars a cookie, why not toss together the whopping six ingredients yourself and save the money for something else - Payard's equally delicious but significantly-more-difficult-to-make-yourself pistachio macarons, perhaps?

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups walnut halves, toasted
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 large egg whites ***
1 tbsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350, and coarsely chop toasted walnuts
Stir together sugar, cocoa powder and salt, then add the nuts.
Add the vanilla and the egg whites, one at a time, until the mixture resembles a thick brownie batter
(***depending on the size of the egg, two may be enough - the batter should be difficult to stir, and will take a few minutes to come together)
Spoon the batter in 12 - 14 mounds on prepared baking sheets (I'd highly recommend using a silpat. If you use parchment paper, set the paper on top of a damp towel once the cookies have cooled - it will be much easier to remove them)
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the tops are cracked and glossy but the center is still a little gooey
Let cool completely, then remove from baking sheets

12 to 14 cookies