Chocolate Meringue Cookies

After I made a successful batch of French macarons, I wanted to try baking these meringue cookies. I was a bit skeptical about these having an eggy taste, so decided to play it safe and add some fresh melted dark chocolate to remove egg smell if any. So when my cousin and family planned to visit us, I made these and got pretty good reviews about the same. These are extremely feather like light and melt in the mouth. Though I must confess that I need to work on getting a more beautiful piped out shells, but it’s pretty ok for a first trial. The chocolate flavour is optional and you can simply play around with colours and flavours. Can add small bite sized  pieces of nuts or chocochips for a crunch. The key is to whip the egg whites till you get stiff peaks and then bake these at a very low temperature of about 100-120 degree Celsius for 40-50 minutes. You can use any kind of star nozzle or simply snip off the tip of the piping bag and pipe these onto a clean parchment paper lined in a tray. Eggless version coming up soon in the blog.

Ingredients:

• Egg whites 2
• Powdered sugar 75-80 gm
• Vanilla extract 1/2 tsp
• Salt a pinch
• Dark chocolate 25 gm

Method:

• Take a clean and grease free bowl and crack two egg whites into it taking care that the yolk doesn’t get mixed into it.
• Beat it at a low speed of your electric beater till it appears glossy and white.
• Continue beating till you get soft peaks.
• Now add a pinch of salt and continue beating.
• As soon as the peaks start getting stiffer add the powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time and continue beating.
• Incorporate all the sugar and beat till you get really good stiff peaks.
• Add the vanilla extract and fold gently.
• Chop the dark chocolate into small pieces and melt it in a microwave for few seconds or over a double boiler.
• Take a piping bag and attach a star nozzle into it.
• Line the piping bag with streaks of melted chocolate.
• Preheat the oven at 100-120 degree Celsius for 10 minutes.
• Scoop out the prepared whipped egg whites into the piping bag.
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and pipe out the cookies into desired shape and size.
• Take care to pipe out similar shapes and sizes to ensure uniform baking.
• Bake these for 45-50 minutes or till these appear dry while touching.
• Keep a close watch after 40 minutes or so.
• Cool these well and store in airtight containers.
• Use it as garnishing on top of cakes or icecreams or simply devour these melt in the mouth beauties.

Notes:

• Ensure that the bowl is clean and there are no traces of oil. Greasy bowl will prevent the egg whites from getting stiff peaks.
• You can wipe the bowl with a tissue smeared with vinegar or lemon juice.
• You can add a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar or vinegar while whipping the eggs.
• You can increase of decrease the sugar by a tablespoon depending on your taste.
• Bake for a lesser time of you want softer marshmallow type meringue cookies. For crunchier ones, bake longer.
• You can simply scoop out spoonful of the whipped egg whites instead of piping then out.