Chocolate Chip Meringues

When I was in high school, I LOVED meringues. If I saw them in the store when I tagged along with my mom when she went grocery shopping, I'd ask her to buy me some. I always wanted to try baking them, but just never got around to it. My friend Lucy kept bugging me to make them so that I could tell her how. Then, finally, with my friend's birthday as an excuse, I tried it out.

I got to make these (and 3 other cookies that I'll slowly post) for my friend, Rosy's, birthday. These probably weren't the best cookies to make to send in a package since they're so fragile...but I sure hope they sent okay! I normally would have made plain vanilla meringues, or coconut meringues, or something like that, but I know people normally love chocolate chip cookies and since I wasn't making those, I thought I'd make chocolate chip meringues (I ended up making super chocolatey cookies anyway, which I'll post later). I sent these to Rosy (happy birthday tomorrow!), my friend David, and my brother CJ. Sending cookies is so scary...I never know if they'll make it there okay, and it's kind of a lot of money to waste, so I used this kind of as an experiment, haha.

But meringues were FAR easier than I'd thought they would be. At least, they turned out fine for me. I used two different ovens because they didn't all fit into one at once, and I didn't want them to sit out in the air too long, and even though one oven was much stronger than the other, each batch turned out great.

Chocolate Chip Meringues
Recipe from Allrecipes

2 egg whites
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and set aside.

In large metal or glass bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar while continuing to beat until they hold stiff peaks. Mix in the vanilla and cocoa on low speed, then fold in chocolate chips by hand. Drop small mounds of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. Turn off oven, and leave the cookies in the oven for 2 more hours, or until centers are dry. Remove from pan and store in an airtight container.