With not much else to do, cooking and baking are keeping me busy and sane during this pandemic. I admit that I’m trying not to bake much, which is killing me, but with so little exercise, I don’t want us to be ODing on sweets.
My reason for choosing to blog these cookies is because the one ingredient that people haven’t gone crazy about hoarding (at last near me in Northern CA) is eggs——and chocolate chips and cocoa powder are hopefully in your pantry. If you don’t have coffee granules, just leave them out. Coffee heightens chocolate flavor, but you would only know this if you were comparing one cookie made with coffee and one made without side by side. Not too great a chance that’s going to happen.
These cookies are so easy and quick to throw together that I make them often. Although they contain sugar, which certainly doesn’t qualify to be a recipe for my healthy senior cooking class, I sometimes break down and give them a treat that is ‘almost’ healthy. Everyone needs a treat now and then and healthy and cookies are an oxymoron in my vocabulary.
Being a baker, I have what I think are the best unsweetened cocoa and chocolate chips out there. I love Valrhona cocoa, but I made these yesterday with Hershey’s unsweetened and they came out very good. The difference is more in the texture than the taste. Valrhona is a denser cocoa so the cookies made with them are a little fudgier.
By far my favorite chocolate chips are made by Callebaut, a Begium chocolate. I melt them when I need melted chocolate for a recipe (I find chopping chocolate takes more time than I am willing to spend). They are richer and larger than Nestle’s. That being said, seeing as this is shut-in time, I know you will love these cookies with any unsweetened cocoa and chips you have on hand. You can get Callebaut on Amazon, but they come in a very large bag. They are also available from speciality food stores.
So go ahead and give these meringue cookies a shot. You probably have little else to do and they might just lift your spirits.
Enjoy, stay well and keep on cooking.
This or Hershey’s plain unsweetened cocoa are the most widely available and work great.
A denser, richer cocoa like Valrhona makes a slightly fudgier cookie.
For me, these callets, or extra large chips are the best— good enough for melting for any chocolate recipe.
While continuously beating and adding the sugar slowly, whip until you can see stiff peaks when you lift the beater.
Fold the cocoa and chips into the whites.
Drop the batter from a regular size ice cream scoop or by heaping tablespoons.
CHOCOLATE CHOCOLATE CHIP MERINGUE COOKIES
3 large egg whites, at room temperature (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
1 ½ cups chocolate chips
1.Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 heavy baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir coffee into egg whites and let stand for 5 minutes. With electric mixer on high speed, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and all of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Mixture will be stiff, glossy and egg whites will form stiff peaks.
4. Add cocoa and with a spatula, gently fold it in. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Drop by heaping tablespoons or an ice cream scoop onto baking sheets, about 1 ½-inches apart.
6. To bake: Bake at 300 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until tops feel firm and set. Remove from oven and test for doneness by gently lifting up bottom of one cookie with a spatula. If it doesn’t stick to the paper, the cookies are done. If it still sticks, bake 5 more minutes or until tops are firm and cookies can be lifted from paper with a spatula. The shorter time you bake them, the fudgier they will be. The longer, the crisper. If baking both sheets in one oven, reverse their positions after 15 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature on baking sheet. Carefully remove from paper.
To make ahead: Cookies may be stored airtight for several days or frozen.
Makes about 20 cookies.
