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Meringue cookies are ridiculously high in price at the grocery store. I've seen them up to $4 for a small bag. These light and airy cookies are cheap and easy to make at home. It's hard to believe you can get up to 4 dozen cookies from 3 egg whites and a cup of sugar. Humidity is the enemy of meringue cookies, so plan to bake them on a day when it's nice and dry. Good for gluten-free and low-fat diets.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hours,
Ingredients:
- 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup superfine granulated sugar (see Note)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (Ghiradelli recommended)
- 1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preparation:
Chill mixing bowl and beaters for 15 minutes.Preheat oven to 250 F. Line cookie sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
Beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until soft peaks form. Add sugar a tablespoon at a time until all sugar is incorporated and melted into the meringue. The meringue should be shiny and form stiff peaks.
Sprinkle sifted cocoa powder over meringue and gently fold in with a large spatula. Fold in miniature chocolate chips.
Drop by scant teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, placing cookies about 1 inch apart. (You want these bite-sized to pop the whole cookie into your mouth. Larger ones are fine but make a crumbly mess when you bite into them.)
Bake about 1 hour until stiff and dry. Turn off oven, but leave meringue cookies in the oven until cool to further dry out, another 2 hours.
Store in an airtight container.
Yield: about 5 dozen meringue cookies, depending on size
Note: If you cannot find superfine granulated sugar, measure 1 cup plus 1 tsp of granulated table sugar in a small food processor and process about 2 minutes. Do not use confectioners' sugar. It contains cornstarch.
Photo © 2006 Peggy Trowbridge, licensed to About.com, Inc.
