The Chocolate Gourmand

Pirouettes
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Preheat oven to 400° F

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour

Preheat cookie sheets and prepare dough
Place cookie sheet with silpat cooking mat in oven to preheat. Cream together the butter, sugar, egg whites and vanilla until light and fluffy. Slowly add the flour and mix until just blended. Place about 1/2 cup of the dough into a pyrex measuring cup and heat in microwave for 8 seconds. The goal is to warm it up to the point it will just start to pour. Once the oven is preheated, use a spoon to coax out about a tablespoon of dough into 4 or 5 well spaced spots on the sheet. Lift the sheet and tilt at steep angles to help the dough form a large, flat circle. It's better to err on too thin than thick, just make sure the dough circles don't touch.

Bake cookies and then immediately roll
Bake for 4 to 6 minutes until edges are browned. It's better to be a little too dark than too light since under browned pirouettes are not crunchy and they are very forgiving of over browning. Quickly remove from oven and use a thin spatula to lift one of the cookies over the handle of a wooden spoon. The cookie will be very hot, but you can use your hands for brief touches to start rolling the cookie over the handle of the spoon. Roll the cookies until they are completely cylindrical, pushing down on the cookie when the outer seam is between the handle and the cookie sheet. This last press will help keep the cookie from unrolling. Quickly set the rolled cookie onto a cooling rack and proceed to the remaining cookies on the sheet.

Repeat the process of spreading the dough on the still hot cookie sheet, heating more dough as needed between sheets. Once you get the hang of it, you can alternate 2 sheets in the oven (about 2 - 3 minutes apart), but start with one at a time until you feel confident. Once the cookies are completely cooled, place in airtight container. They will keep for up to 2 weeks at room temperature.

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