GATHER JOURNAL

Photograph by Lauren Coleman Food Styling by Maggie Ruggiero 
Prop Styling by Chloe Daley


    
Cookie Lyon (Empire)

Lyon’s Share Cookie

Desserts from Issue 11 – Summer 2017 – Heroines

Defiant, determined, both nurturers and aggressors, these two badass mothers each ruled over their own empires in different times and places: Cookie “I’m here to get what’s mine” Lyon in present-day New York and Daenerys “I will take what’s mine with fire and blood” Targaryen, aka Khaleesi, in Essos in 300 AC. For Cookie, we conceived of the chicest version of her namesake dessert adorned with cherries and gold dust, and, for Khaleesi, a dragonfruit slushie spiked for fire-breathing.

makes 1 dozen cookies



  • ⅔ cup macadamia nuts, halved
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
  • 2 large egg whites
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • ⅛ tsp cream of tartar
  • ¾ cup sugar, divided
  • ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • ⅓ cup sweetened dried cherries
  • edible gold dust (optional)

  • 1

    Preheat oven to 350°F. Toast the nuts on large baking sheet until golden brown, 7 to 10 minutes. Immediately pour into a bowl and stir in ½ cup chocolate chips, letting them melt. Cool pan, and then line with parchment paper and lightly grease.
  • 2

    Beat egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar with an electric mixer at medium speed until just foamy. While continuing to beat, add ½ cup sugar in a gentle stream. Increase speed to high and beat 1 ½ to 2 minutes until whites are glossy and billowy like lightly whipped cream.
  • 3

    Whisk together cocoa, cornstarch, salt, and remaining ¼ cup sugar, then stir into egg whites. Stir in the nut mixture, cherries, and remaining ½ cup chocolate chips. Drop heaping spoonfuls onto pan spacing 1 ½ inches apart. Bake until tops just start to crack and cookies are still soft in the middle, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on pan.
  • 4

    Brush cookies with gold dust if desired.