Chewy Chocolate Meringues

I want to show you this new book from Williams-Sonoma.

Its filled with delicious photographs and tons of recipes including

Pretzels.

Pop Tarts.

And pies to name a few.

Are your taste buds warming up yet? Mine sure are. I could hardly stand to flip through the pages of this book without wanting to make everything in it.

Home. Baked. Comfort. Yes, please.

And guess what, else.

This book also includes recipes from several bakeries and bloggers across the country.

Like Smitten Kitchen, Tartine, Cannelle et Vanille, Flour, Baked

And more.

Maybe even one from someone you know.

Wit! h all th is yumminess, it was really hard to decide what to bake first. I flipped through the book several times before I finally decided.

When I saw that one of the featured bakeries was from Minneapolis, I knew right away that was the one to try since Ill be in Minnesota and at Williams-Sonoma in about two weeks for a book signing. (Details here.)

And now, I may just have to stop by this bakery, too.

Salty Tart. Cute name.

And her recipe for Chewy Chocolate Meringues is delish.

And easy.

And better yet, only needs four ingredients.

Finely chopped bittersweet chocolate.

Five tablespoons cocoa powder.

Sugar and egg whites.

This photo kinda makes them look like egg yellows though.

Whisk together the egg whites and sugar over but not touching simmering water until dissolved.

Remove from heat and beat the egg whites until stiff and glossy.

Then fold in the chocolate and cocoa.

Scoop out the batter on parchment lined baking sheets and bake away.

You want to see cracks. Thats part of what I love about this recipe. No need to try and make anything look perfect.These are already perfectly imperfect.

And oh so good.

They are highly addictive, too. I dont want to tell you how many I ate before I even finished taking photos

but lets just say that this photo is missing quite a few.

Im so glad I tried this recipe. Ive never made meringues before because they never really looked all that appealing to me. But wow! These chocolate ones will be made again. And again.

Thanks Salty Tart.

Chewy Chocolate Meringues (adapted from Home Baked Comfort)

1 cup (8 fl oz / 250 ml) large egg whites about 7
2 cups (1 lb / 500 g) sugar
5 tbsp (1 oz / 30 g) natural cocoa powder
4 oz (125 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 oz (125 g) cocoa nibs*

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a clean, dry heatproof bowl, whisk together egg whites and sugar. Set over, but not touching, simmering water in a saucepan.
• Whisk constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved and remove from heat. (I tested to make sure I didnt feel any sugar granules.)
• Beat the eggs on high using your mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat until stiff and glossy.
• Sift cocoa over the meringue. Sprinkle chopped chocolate (and cocoa nibs if youre using) on top.
• Then, fold together gently with a spatula until combined.
• Use a scoop to drop even amounts of batter onto prepared baking sheets about two inches apart.
• Bake for about 8-9 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake for another 8-9 minutes until the cookies are fluffy and full of cracks.
• Transfer the cookies, leaving them on the parchment paper, to wire racks to cool.

* I omitted the cocoa nibs because I didnt have any on hand and the cookies still came out beautifully.

The recipe says it makes about 2 dozen meringues, but I ended up with about 60 using a 1.5 inch scoop.
I also used a scale to measure my ingredients exactly.

Home Baked Comfort by Kim Laidlaw
Photographed by Eric Wolfinger

Featured BakeriesBaked, Brooklyn, NY
Floriole Cafe & Bakery, Chicago, IL
Flour Bakery + Cafe, Boston, MA
Huckleberry Cafe & Bakery, Santa Monica, CA
Pearl Bakery, Portland, OR
Salty Tart Bakery, Minneapolis, MN
Sugar Mamas Bakeshop, Austin, TX
Tartine Bakery, San Francisco, CA

Featured Bloggers
Cannelle et Vanille
La Tartine Gourmande
Smitten Kitchen
and me : )

The book is available at Williams-Sonoma until February 2012. Then youll also be able to find it on Amazon.

Until then, want to win a copy?

You do. I promise.

Leave a comment on this post answering the following random question.

• What is your favorite Halloween candy?
• Deadline to enter is Tuesday evening, September 27th at 6:00 pm ET.
• One winner will be picked at random and announced sometime Tuesday evening.

Good Luck!

Disclosure: Giveaway sponsored by me. : )