Day 5 of Holiday Baking with Kids

Today we made Meringues.  Have you ever made a Meringue cookie?  They proved to be very challenging.  The recipe didn’t sound particularly difficult and only required a few ingredients.  Easy right?  Wrong!  I would definitely rate this recipe as difficult.  So if you’re up for a challenge, this is the recipe for you.

It all started well.  We mixed up the ingredients, followed the directions, and had beautiful fluffy peaks of cookie dough (egg white) on the pan and ready to be baked.  After 1 1/2 hours they were still a bit sticky so I kept them in the oven for another 1/2 hour to bake.  We left them to dry in the oven for a few hours after they baked.  When we tried to remove them from the pan, they stuck terribly.  They cracked and broke easily yet every crumb tasted wonderfully.  As each one broke we popped them into our mouths and let them just melt away.

When only a few remained on the pan, Jon suggested that we place the pan in the freezer for a few hours.  That did the trick.  The frozen cookies popped right off.  We quickly dipped them in chocolate and hazelnuts and stuck them back in the freezer until the chocolate hardened.  It was a long day of cookie baking for a total of 7 Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue cookies.  Especially after tasting them, because one cookie leaves you craving more.  The flavor was amazing before they were dipped in chocolate and hazelnuts, but after, they were a little slice of heaven.  Even the kids loved them, nuts and all.

Ingredients:

AUTHOR: Danielle Walker – AgainstAllGrain.com

2 large egg whites, about 4 tablespoons
1/2 cup honey
pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon ice water
3/4 cup raw hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped
4 ounces dark chocolate, melted

If you would like to attempt this recipe you can find the instructions over at Against All Grain.

Have you made a Meringue cookie?  How did they turn out?  Do you have any suggestions for the next time I attempt this type of cookie?