I had initially been thinking of making pavlova with the leftover egg whites I had in the fridge, but after considering it for a bit, I decided that I wanted to try a different egg white recipe. These little chocolate meringue cookies looked pleasingly simple, so I decided to give them a go. They were a big hit with both TF and the Kidlet.

Spumette

From The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. hazelnuts
• 140g icing (confectioners'/powdered) sugar
• 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder¹
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3 large egg whites
• pinch (~1/16 tsp.) coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and bake hazelnuts for 8-10 minutes.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 150°C (300°F) and transfer nuts to a tea towel, let cool, and rub to remove the skins.
3. Separate the nuts from the skins and coarsely chop the nuts. Set aside.
4. Grease and flour 2-3 baking sheets.
5. Sift together the sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.
6. Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form.
7. Gently fold in the sugar mixture.
8. Add the nuts and fold those in as well.
9. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto the prepared baking sheets. (You should get 30-36 cookies.)
10. Bake at 150°C (300°F) for ~15 minutes. (Cookies should be dry to the touch, but still soft.)
11. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool.

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¹ I used "natural" cocoa powder for this, but feel free to experiment with alkalized (Dutched) cocoa powder if you like. ^Back