Meringue Cookies

Making meringue cookies is a breeze, and they taste heavenly.  They remind me of beautiful clouds!  Here is a quick and easy recipe that I made this past holiday season.

First, a few notes of advice: 

Take your eggs out of the refrigerator, and let them get to room temperature.

Use a glass or stainless bowl, no aluminum or plastic.

Be very, very careful not to get any of the yolk into the egg white mixture when you separate the yolks from whites. I prefer to use four little separate bowls(one for each egg white), then combine them into a larger bowl for mixing.  That way, you won't contaminate all of the egg whites as you separate them if part of a yolk slips in the bowl with the egg whites!

You will need a hand electric mixer, or tabletop electric mixer to beat the egg whites.

Prep time: 8-15 min.  Cook time: 120 min. Serves 24

Ingredients

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, semi-sweet
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray, coat with a light dusting of flour and shake off excess,
or cover it with parchment paper for baking

Separate yolks from whites of four eggs.  As I said, I do this in four small bowls, then combine the whites into a large bowl for mixing.  (Discard the egg yolks or save for some other use).

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form.  Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form.  Gently fold in chocolate chips and vanilla extract.

Drop mixture by heating tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart, making 24 cookies.

Bake until lightly golden and no longer sticky on the surface, about 1 hour.  Turn oven off and let cookies sit in oven for 1 hour.  (I have even left my cookies int he over all night).  Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.  Don't open the oven while cookies are baking and cooling!

These cookies are the perfect combination of vanilla and chocolate.  If you prefer chewy meringues, make them the day before you plan to eat them.

If you are a Weight Watchers these cookies have a 1 point per cookie value.