Meringue Cookies¶
Recipe first, commentary later. 15 minutes of work and 2.5 hours of baking.
Ingredients¶
100 g egg whites
1.5 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g caster sugar
50 g granulated sugar (fine)
180 g dark chocolate
pinch salt
parchment paper, cookie sheets
Preheat¶
Preheat oven to 120°C.
Whip¶
100 g egg whites
1.5 tsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Toss the egg whites in the mixer with whisk attachment and slowly increase speed to medium. Add vinegar, and vanilla. Slowly increase speed to 100%. This works best if the egg whites are already room temperature, but if they’re straight from the fridge it will just take a little bit longer.
Continue to whip until the volume increases and soft peaks form. That’s peaks that fall back when you stop the mixer. This should take something like 5 minutes.
Mix Sugar¶
100 g caster sugar
50 g fine granulated sugar
pinch salt
While that’s whipping, mix the sugar (both types) and salt into a bowl with a whisk.
Chop Chocolate¶
180 g dark chocolate
Also while waiting for the eggs to whip up, take that chocolate bar and cut it in half. Cut one half into big chunks and chop the other half finely. Put this in a bowl for later.
Add Sugar¶
Sugar bowl (caster sugar, granulated sugar, salt)
Once the egg whites are starting to look whipped (soft peaks, remember) start slowly adding the sugar into the mixer. Put 1 spoonful in at a time, waiting for it to mix in before adding another.
This should take another 5 minutes or so, and by the time it’s done, the egg whites should look glossy and hold their shape.
Add Chocolate¶
180 g chopped chocolate
Swap in the paddle attachment in the stand mixer, dump the chocolate in, and mix on low for about 30 seconds, until well incorporated.
Bake¶
Use a small spoon to glop the mixture onto lined cookie sheets. Dollops can be pretty close together; they won’t expand much.
Put the cookie sheets in the oven, and wait for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 105°C and wait another 2 hours.
Commentary¶
A nice thing about these meringues is that they come out of the oven ready to eat. The oven’s not too hot, so after a few seconds in the air they won’t burn you. Watch out for the molten chocolate, though.
This is based on a few different meringue recipes, notably this one from the company that makes the flour. However, they all use too much sugar for my taste. If you want sweeter, that recipe recommends almost a pound of sugar in twice as much egg white. They also tend to suggest using cream of tartar. I don’t have that handy, but it’s just there to be an acid. Rice vinegar works fine, and other acidic things like lemon juice are probably good too.
Most people recommend that if you separate the eggs yourself, it’s easier to do when they’re cold. But egg whites are easier to whip warm, so let them warm up after separating. The pasteurized egg whites at my grocery store aren’t refrigerated on the shelf, so they can go straight into the mixer.
Another advantage of pasteurized egg whites is that you can lick the whisk/paddle/spoon/scraper/bowl. Sharing is caring.
Some recipes suggest using a pastry bag and piping out your dollops instead of glopping with a spoon. I am not fancy enough for that, and the chocolate chunks probably wouldn’t go through a spout well, but it’s an option if you’re into regularity.
I think it’s important to use dark chocolate instead of milk, because there’s so much sugar going in that it already tastes pretty sweet. You could probably get away with using unsweetened baking chocolate. My grocery store’s baking section is pretty light, though, and their chocolate selection is large.
I like the approach with half the chocolate chunky and the other half powdery. It makes every bite somewhat chocolatey, but some bites get a big satisfying chunk. It also makes the finished product look nice.
My first batch was way too big (I’ve since halved it) and wouldn’t fit in my pair of European-sized ovens. So half of it sat on the counter waiting for 2.5 hours while the first half baked. It took 5 hours in total, and my ovens did not like being on for that long, but actually worked out fine.