chocolate meringue cookies easy dessert
Photo credit Rinne Allen

These Chocolate Cookies Have a Sweet Southern Jewish History

Chocolate chewies are packed with pecans and intensely chocolatey.

Advertisement

When the Russian Jewish immigrant Isadore Gottlieb opened Gottlieb’s Bakery in 1884 on Bull Street in downtown Savannah, he began a baking dynasty. For generations, his cinnamon rolls, rye and challah breads and these chocolate meringue cookies were an important part of being Jewish in Savannah.

The cookies have an intense chocolaty-ness and an irresistible chewiness that seems to amplify if you freeze them briefly. The pecans toast magically as the cookies bake. The cookies can be gluten-free if you bake them with cornstarch or a gluten-free flour blend, and they may have been baked and sold during Passover. At the Central Markets grocery stores in Texas, cookies like these are known as “forgotten” cookies, because after baking, they were left in a turned-off oven to crisp (thus forgotten). Gottlieb’s closed in 1994, but now you can bake the cookies at home. 

Note: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for one week. Freeze for up to three months.

Taken from “Baking in the American South: 200 Recipes and Their Untold Stories” by Anne Byrn.  Copyright © 2024 by Anne Byrn. Photographs © 2024 by Rinne Allen.  Used by permission of Harper Celebrate. 

Love this recipe? Check out this blackberry jam cake with caramel icing from “Baking in the American South.”

Print
clock clock iconcutlery cutlery iconflag flag iconfolder folder iconinstagram instagram iconpinterest pinterest iconfacebook facebook iconprint print iconsquares squares iconheart heart iconheart solid heart solid icon
chocolate cookie recipe easy
Photo credit Rinne Allen

Chocolate Chewies

Chewy, chocolatey meringue cookies packed with toasty pecans.

  • Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
  • Yield: 2-3 dozen (2-inch) cookies

Ingredients

Units
  • 2 ¾ cups (294 g) confectioners’ sugar
  • generous ½ cup (60 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch or 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour or a gluten-free flour blend
  • pinch of salt
    3 large egg whites
    ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (8 oz/228 g) finely chopped pecans

Instructions

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F, with a rack in the middle. Line two 12-by-17-inch baking sheets with parchment paper. 
  2. Place the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa, cornstarch (or flour or gluten-free mix) and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until just combined. Add the egg whites and beat to incorporate the whites, then increase the speed to high and beat for 1 minute, or until very well combined. Stir in the vanilla and pecans. 
  3. Scoop or drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake, one pan at a time, until the cookies are shiny and firm on the outside, but inside they are still a little soft, 12-15 minutes. (Gauge the baking time by the size of the cookie. Smaller cookies bake in about 12 minutes and larger ones need more baking time.) Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies rest for 2 minutes on the pan. 
  4. With a metal spatula, remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the pans between batches. 
  5. If desired, place the cooled cookies in a zipper-top bag in the freezer for 1 hour, which makes them even more fudgy.

Notes

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week. Freeze for up to 3 months.

  • Author: Anne Byrn
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes + 1 hour freeze time
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American

Advertisement
Advertisement

Keep on Noshing

Freedom Beyond the Self

Freedom requires us to know what we are for, what we will do with our freedom, and how that will impact others.

10 Nostalgic Jewish Dumplings to Make Everything OK

From kreplach to kubbeh, dumplings are our go-to comfort food.

Sukkot 2025

In 2025, Sukkot begins at sundown on Monday, Oct. 6 and ends at sundown on Monday, Oct. 13.