Zara:
Hey all! After reading Elisa’s post on Parisian food, are you inspired to make some lovely desserts for yourself and your loved ones? Well, we hope you are because we have just the recipe for you to try out!
After a hectic Christmas period where we baked 5 cakes and biscotti and tried many other time-consuming recipes, we were looking for a simple yet delicious recipe to try out for one of our friend’s birthday gift! Since this was to be a gift, it was important that the baked good be pretty and gift-like too (: Our friend is also a chocoholic, so something chocolatey was a necessity.
We looked high and low on the internet, going through countless recipes of bars, fudge, cookie sandwiches….before finally chancing upon the perfect recipe:
Standing at the foot of a mountain of meringues!
Chewy Chocolate Meringue
Adapted from Completely Delicious
Yields 4 dozen meringues
1 cup (225 grams) egg whites, from about 7 eggs
2 cups (500 grams) sugar
5 tablespoons (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
4 ounces (113 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line 3 sheet pans with parchment paper.
In the heatproof bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the egg whites and sugar. Set over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Whisk frequently until sugar is dissolved. I tested with my fingers to make sure all sugar granules were dissolved.
Whipping air into the egg whites allows the meringues to puff up!
Return the bowl to the stand mixer and beat on high speed with the whisk attachment until meringue is stiff and glossy, about 5 minutes. Sift the cocoa powder over the meringue, add the chopped chocolate, and gently fold together with a spatula until incorporated.
Scoop out onto the prepared sheet pans in rounded tablespoons, about 2 inches apart. Baking 2 sheet pans at a time, bake for 8 minutes then rotate pans and bake for an additional 8 minutes, until meringues are puffed and cracked. Let cool completely.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
We were delighted with the result! The meringues were a beautiful light cocoa colour, and they were crisp and hard on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside! While they weren’t as pretty as the meringues that you can find in pastry shops, they were cute enough for us!
The chewy and chocolatey insides of a collapsed meringue
The only problem we encountered was that they were SUPER fragile so we had to be extra careful with them, especially since we were bringing them to our friend’s party! This is due to the large amount of air that was beaten into the egg whites, which is what allows the meringue to ‘puff up’. This led to us layering tupperware with layers and layers of tissue before carefully placing the meringues in the tupperware.
Love the pretty colour of the meringues 
i meant to tell you girls earlier, but your meringues are gorgeous! And they look absolutely perfect on the insides; I plan to make them for myself, and soon. Happy new year, you two.
Happy New Year to you too!
Thanks!!! They are delicious! Tell us how it goes 