Gooey Chocolate Meringue Cookies

I developed these cookies by accident, and what a happy accident it was! I've never been a huge fan of traditional meringue cookies because I always find them too dry and crunchy or too stick-to-your-teeth chewy. But when I had some leftover swiss meringue (don't ask) - the base of the frosting to which you'd usually add butter - I added some melted chocolate instead, popped some dollops on a baking sheet and threw them in the oven for a few, and out came one of my all-time favorite cookies.

These cookies are crisp and crunchy on the outside, and super gooey - almost brownie-like - on the inside.

Happy Baking!

MAKES 13-14 Cookies

INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES

• 4 large egg whites (about 140g - each egg white is ~35g)*

• 1 cup sugar (200g)

• pinch cream of tartar (completely optional)

• 12oz cooled, melted chocolate (any kind but I prefer bittersweet or semisweet; check out Tip #9 here for how to melt chocolate in the microwave)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• sea salt for sprinkling

• stand mixer with whisk attachment

• small saucepan that will allow your mixer bowl to sit inside, but not touch the bottom

• hand whisk

• baking spatula

• candy thermometer

• 2 large cookie sheets & parchment

• 1.5 Tablespoon cookie scoop or measuring spoon, or a piping bag with a medium/large piping tip of your choice

*When you’re baking with egg yolks (lemon curd, ice cream, custard, etc.) it’s easy to save the egg whites for a later use - freeze them in an ice cube tray!

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt 12oz chocolate and set aside to cool.

2. Place about an inch of water in your saucepan and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to a simmer.

3. Add 140g egg whites (4), 200g sugar (1c), and a pinch of cream of tartar to your stand mixer bowl, and hand whisk to combine.

4. Place the stand mixer bowl on the saucepan, so you’re creating a double boiler. Whisk vigorously by hand every two minutes or so, until the liquid reaches 165F on your candy thermometer, about 7-10 minutes (it's fine if you go over 5-15 degrees).

5. Immediately place the bowl onto the stand mixer, and whisk on high until the mixture has turned glossy, and is no longer warm. This usually takes around 10-12 minutes.

6. While the meringue is mixing, heat your oven to 350F and get your cookie sheets ready with parchment.

7. Add the melted chocolate and 1 teaspoon vanilla and whisk again until fully combined.

8. Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish mixing by hand with a spatula - it's likely there's some meringue on the bottom of the bowl that hasn't fully mixed into the chocolate. It's very important to make sure your batter is fully combined. Also, it will be a relatively thin batter; that's normal.

9. In order to make the cookies look uniform, you need to scoop the batter either with a cookie scoop, or by piping them with a piping bag. I always use a piping bag because I like using a decorative tip (see pictures) and it's easier with this thinner type of batter.

10. Scoop or pipe ~1.5TB of batter at a time onto the cookie sheet, leaving about 1.5-2" in between each cookie. I use oversized cookie sheets and bake a row of 4, a row of 3, and a row of 4. Also, when piping, I might make the cookies slightly larger. Play around, this recipe is forgiving.

11. Sprinkle with sea salt, and bake for 12-13 minutes. You might need to make this recipe at least once (or at least one tray) to figure out if you need a minute or two less or a minute or two more - it completely depends on your specific oven temp (which is usually not precise) AND the size of the cookies you make. When in doubt pull them out sooner than you think. You want the cookies to be nicely crispy on the outside/edges, but still gooey in the middle. Or…at least, I do.

12. Cool the cookies completely on their baking sheets, and enjoy!