The Meringue Saga: Part 2

Chewy Chocolate Meringues! Yay! I've made these many a time and they're still as delicious as always. The recipe is from Bakerella and as we all know, if it's from Bakerella, it has to be good! I like the recipe for a few reasons: (1) They're sooo good! (2) They're super simple (only 4 ingredients!) (3) They're chocolate!

So there you have it. Three reasons why I love these chewy chocolate meringues. And now, three reasons why you should make them: (1) Your friends will love you forever! (2) They're really good :) (3) You might just eat all of them in one day. I've definately been on my way to that last point. (I finished off the pink meringues in 2 days.)   

So now that I've persuaded you into making these wonderful meringues, a few notes. The recipe said it made ~24, Bakerella made ~60, and I got ~32. It all depends on how large or small you make them. Also, the recipe says scoop them (I presume with an ice cream scoop thing) but since I don't have one of those, I just used a table spoon (not a measuring tablespoon, a spoon that goes on your table. The recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate, but I didn't have any bittersweet, but I did have milk and dark chocolate chips (from the triple chocolate cookies) so I just mixed those together and used them up.

Those ones on the far left look sickly.

Now that you've got them onto the baking sheet, lets get baking! The recipe said bake for 7-9 minutes. Me being my indecisive and rule following self, I baked them for 8 minutes and 30 seconds. I guess I wasn't thinking when I saw 7-9 and thought that the average of 7 and 9 is 8:30. It's not. It's just 8. Bummer. But they came out fine. (Actually, the recipe says 8-9. I should really read those more carefully! So I am good at math! Yippee!)

Recipe: 

1 cup egg whites (that's about 7, I only needed 6 for this batch)
2 cups sugar
5 tbsp cocoa powder
4 oz (1/2 cup) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2: Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.

3: In a clean, dry heatproof bowl (I used glass), whisk together egg whites and sugar. Set over, but not touching (in master doubler fashion) summering water in a saucepan.

4: Whisk constantly untul the sugar is completely dissolved and remove from the heat (you may want to wear an oven mitt or something so you don't get steam burns (is that what they are?)).

5: Beat the eggs on high using your mixer until they are stiff and glossy (it took longer than normal for them to become stiff for me).

6: Sift cocoa powder over the meringue and sprinkle the chopped chocolate on top. Gently fold it together with a spatula until combined.

7: Use a scoop (or spoon!) to drop even amounts of batter onto the parchment lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart (I put mine closer (1) so that I could fit more onto the sheet, and (2) they don't spread so as long as they're not touching, it's fine).

8: Bake for 8-9 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake for another 8-9 minutes until they are fluffy and crackly (the original recipe says "full of cracks" but mine never get "full" of cracks).

9: Transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool (I put them straight into the container and they seemed to be fine).

See? Not full of cracks, but still crackly.