Chocolate Meringue Cookies

[ostrich]

Modified from an Allrecipes recipe.

Chocolate Meringue Cookies

3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp GF vanilla extract
2/3 cup white sugar (or Splenda)
1 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or nuts), optional

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
2. Combine the egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla extract in a metal or glass bowl. Plastic will cause the meringue to fall.
3. Beat until the whites form soft peaks. Soft peaks = when you take the beater out of the mix and flip it over, the meringue forms soft points (peaks) that flop over.
4. Continue to beat the meringue while slowly adding the sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form and the meringue turns glossy. Stiff peaks = when you take the beater out of the mix and flip it over, the meringue forms harder peaks that don't flop over.
5. Fold in cocoa powder and chocolate chips/nuts.
6. Get out a zip-top bag (or any large-ish plastic bag). Gently pour the mix into the bag. Cut out a small corner of the bag. You now have a cheap tool for piping the meringue.
7. Cover your cookie sheets in parchment paper. Pipe the meringue onto the parchment. Make each cookie about 1" wide.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes.
9. Let the cookies cool for at least a minute before transferring to cooling rack.

Yields: Um, quite a few cookies. I got somewhere between 60-70 cookies.

Ostrich notes:
- Holy crap! Ostrich made meringue! Why yes, hell is freezing over. Meringue tips added for noobs like me.
- Bought some of these at Whole Foods and thought they were awesome. Like chocolate roasted marshmallows. Plus if you use Splenda (and omit the chips/nuts) they're pretty healthy. Chocolate + healthy = win.
- Make sure your eggs are at room temperature before you start this! Room temp eggs and a non-plastic bowl keep the meringue from falling.
- You can use baker's sugar (ultra fine white sugar) for faster incorporation. If you don't feel like buying baker's sugar, just stick some regular sugar in a food processor and beat the hell out of it.
- Try not to bang these cookies around too much before they cool. You'll slam all the air out of them.
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of

[rpf1007]

These look great! I can't wait to try them. I have made merigues before...with whipped cream and fresh fruit. In that I think I used icing sugar. Thanks for posting!

[ostrich]

Thanks! I figure if I can make them for the first time, while it's raining, and have them turn out OK anybody can do it. Good luck!
_________________
Ostrich :>--O==={

I lie below, you float above
In the pretty white ships that I am dreaming of