Brownie Meringue Cookie

Brownie Meringue Cookies

Meringue and I are buds. I love it. I have bought those containers of meringue cookies from Whole Foods and kept them in my and my friends' cars as an emergency snack. Not only is the texture divine and the taste fantastic, but the actual cookies is not all that bad for you.

Of course, combine a meringue with a brownie, a.k.a. a crinkle cookie, it's a different story. However, the delectableness of meringue is highlighted with the complement of the brownie, and those extra calories are 100% worth it.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of 60% Ghirardelli chocolate chips
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1/2 semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Lay out a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

3. In the microwave, melt the Ghirardelli chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until fully melted. Set aside.

4. Whisk together 1 cup of the powdered sugar, the cocoa powder and the cornstarch. Set aside.

5. In a large bowl with a mixer on high, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks.

* I did not do this for long enough. It takes about 5 minutes. Be patient!*

6. Beat 1 cup of powdered sugar into the eggs until the mixture resembles marshmallow cream.

7. On low, beat the dry ingredient mixture from earlier into the egg white mixture.

8. Beat in the melted chocolate from earlier until everything is fully combined.

9. Fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips. The batter should be thick by this point.

10. Set out a bowl of the remaining 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.
11. Make dough balls of about 1/4 teaspoon of batter.

12. Roll heavily in the powdered sugar bowl.

13. Bake for 10 minutes in the oven, or until cracked and puffed.

9. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

So as I said in the instructions, I did not beat my egg whites for long enough. The product of my attempt, though it looked and smelled delicious, tasted too sweet and too dense to even consume a whole cookie. While the sweetness could be attributed to the recipe, the density was due to the egg white, so patience is actually the key here.

I did try again and made pistachio meringue bark which worked much better in terms of texture, so it was the egg whites that were the major issue for me.