Chewy Chocolate Meringue Cookies

A Demanding Recipe

I don’t cook as much as I used to. In the past year or so I have posted about it even less. Times change, as do circumstances. I have fewer mouths to feed these days and my kitchen remains in transition. Yet sometimes I still happen across a new recipe that demands to be shared. Chewy Chocolate Meringue Cookies is one of those recipes.

It caught my attention in Parade Magazine as I looked through the pages of the AJC one Sunday morning. A photo of beautiful dark chocolate cookies drew me into the text. Like many of the best recipes, on first read it struck me as both familiar and totally new.

Taking It to a New Level

On the one hand, these cookies are not all that different from the Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies I have been making most of my life. That was my mother’s recipe and a family favorite made from just a few ingredients that could be found in even a sparsely stocked kitchen most of the time.

On the other hand, this recipe takes those ingredients to a new level of intensity and relevance, producing a cookie that is denser, chewier, more flavorful and abundantly satisfying. Besides that, it is gluten free. All told, it has become a personal favorite and is an excellent cookie to share with someone special this Valentine’s Day!

Chewy Chocolate Meringue Cookies

Course: DessertCuisine: American

Taking gluten free meringue cookies to a new level.

Ingredients

• 4 egg whites, at room temperature

• ½ teaspoon lemon juice

• ½ teaspoon vanilla

• ½ teaspoon espresso powder

• ¼ teaspoon ground chipotle pepper

• pinch of salt

• ¾ cup sugar

• 12 oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled

• ½ cup toasted chopped walnuts

• walnut halves for garnish

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat together egg whites, lemon juice and vanilla until foamy. Add sugar gradually, beating until stiff peaks form.
• Stir espresso powder and chipotle pepper into cooled chocolate. Fold chocolate mixture and chopped walnuts into the beaten egg whites.
• Scoop the batter into a gallon-sized Ziploc freezer bag. Seal it, then cut a ¾-inch opening across a lower corner of the bag. Use it as a pastry bag to pipe 2-inch cookies onto the parchment lined cookie sheets. Top each cookie with a walnut half.
• Bake at 325F for 15 minutes, or until outside is set and dry. Cool on pans. Remove from parchment sheets and store in an airtight container.

Notes

• Slightly adapted from a recipe in Parade Magazine
• Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Enjoy!