Meringue Cookies

Meringues were the fun snacks of our childhood.  Whenever we entered a patisserie, my sister and me would want a packet of these fluffy treats, just because they looked beautiful. It has been on my mind for some time and finally, I was able to make them. It is really easy, nothing to worry about. You need a little bit of patience, that's all. If you have an automatic mixer, it is nothing because you leave the machine on full speed and let it mix for 10 minutes. Because it was my first attempt, I went along with two egg whites and half a cup of sugar. Then I added a bit of cocoa, which gave my meringues a nice shine.

Ingredients: 

2 egg whites

1/2 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of cocoa

A pinch of salt

How to: 

1. The important tip is the egg whites have to be room temperature, not cold. So before you start, take out your eggs from the fridge and let them wait for a while. After that, the second important tip is your oven must be warm enough. So, start you oven before you whip the eggs. 

2. Separate the egg whites and egg yolks, put the egg whites in a deep bowl. Whisk them for a couple of minutes, then add the sugar and a pinch of salt and put your mixer to high speed and whisk for 10 minutes, or until the egg whites become silky, creamy, fluffy and pretty tough.

3. I didn't want my meringues to be pale white, so I tried to add a little bit of cocoa powder to it. It made no difference to the taste and they looked amazing.

4. Once the cocoa was mixed into the batter, I put it in a clean bag, cut the corner and squeezed my meringue in small lumps. You can use pastry bags with different shapes.

5. For my first time, I tried different shapes and sizes. I baked them for 25 minutes in 130 degrees oven. Then took them out and let them to cool. They were crunchy on the outside but chewy on the inside. If you don't want them to be chewy, bake them longer.

6. After they cooled down completely, I melted some milk chocolate and dipped half of the meringue cookies in this. It was absolutely fantastic! 

First time; first meringue cookies. Inevitably, some weren't looking very nice shape-wise. :)

  The ones dipped in chocolate were my favourite. Mmm, guess why?