Chocolate Clouds (Meringue Cookies)

Part 2 of my New Year's Day baking! As I said in Part 1, the tiramisu cupcake recipe left me with 3 eggs worth of egg whites and I didn't want to waste them. The first thing I think of when I have egg whites is meringue, so I continued with that train of thought.

One of the books I brought back from Thanksgiving Break, was the Best-Loved Chocolate Recipes book and I remember there was a tasty-looking chocolate meringue cookie recipe somewhere in it. I tried it out and was rewarded with a batch of airy and chewy "cookies." They don't contain any flour or butter or any traditional cookie ingredients, so I hesitate to call them cookies. Instead, I like the name the cookbook gave them - chocolate clouds.

All that is in these little bites are egg whites, sugar, vanilla extract, and chocolate. The recipe also recommends adding cream of tartar to help stabilize the egg whites, but I didn't have any, so I used lemon juice as the stabilizer instead. Like the tiramisu cupcakes, they take a lot of whisking to complete, but again, very easy with a stand mixer. And since they are so airy and hollow, you feel like you can justify eating a whole bunch!

To a happy (and tasty) 2014!

Chocolate Clouds - makes 2 dozen
(Recipe adapted from Best-Loved Chocolate Recipes)

• 3 egg whites
• 1/8 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup of milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Beat egg whites (with lemon juice) in a stand mixer at high speed. 
3. When soft peaks form, add the sugar, followed by the vanilla. 
4. Beat until stiff peaks form. 
5. Fold in the cocoa powder, followed by the chocolate chips.
6. Drop tablespoon scoops onto parchment paper on a baking sheet. 
7. Bake for 40 minutes until the outsides of the cookies feel dry to the touch. 
8. Cool and store at room temperature in an airtight container.