Now that all that Yuletide binge eating (and drinking) is through, it’s officially “New Year’s Resolution” time. When January 1st rolls around, gym membership purchases skyrocket and Whole Foods has lines out the door. The New Year, for most, means being healthy, losing weight, and all that boring stuff. Naturally, all of this lasts just about a week, when hopeful health nuts remember that ice cream tastes better than anything else and that watching a movie is way more fun that hitting the treadmill.

With its always impeccable timing, Bon Appetit’s January issue, titled The New Healthy, is on shelves now. The New Healthy basically just means eating all things trendy and delicious. We’re talking grains, greens, and gluten free in 2014.  While I’ve not yet hopped on the sans-gluten bandwagon, I couldn’t help dog-earing the recipe for Chocolate Brownie Cookies. How could so few ingredients (mind you, none of which are butter or flour) create something as delicious as the picture suggests?

The answer is, I don’t know, I’m no scientist.  But hear me when I tell you that the first batch was gone before the second batch came out of the oven.

Imagine this: you think you’re eating a cookie. A moment later, it hits you…“Wait, is this a meringue?” Then, your world is rocked when you get to the middle, which is like the richest brownie you ever did eat. I’m talking bittersweet chocolate that’s crunchy, fluffy, chewy, and gooey all at the same time. Who even knew that was a thing? I didn’t.

My New Year’s Resolution is to bake more. It’s not exactly on track with everyone else’s health-centered goals. But, if you’re going to break your diet, you might as well do it with these cookies. They’re gluten free! Whatever that means…

Adapted from Bon Appetit’s Chocolate Brownie Cookies

Ingredients (makes 2 dozen cookies)

• 3 cups gluten-free powdered sugar

• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 pinch sea salt

• 2 egg whites

• 1 egg

• 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

• 3 tablespoons cacao nibs*

*These aren’t easy to find, but I used Trader Joe’s dark chocolate covered cacao nibs

1. Preheat oven to 350o . Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 2. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. 3. Whisk in egg and egg whites. 4. Fold in chopped chocolate and cacao nibs. 5. Spoon batter by the tablespoon onto cookie sheets, spaced two inches apart. 6. Bake for 14 minutes. Let cool for two minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.