So we’re actually no longer snowed in – thankfully the 23.2 inches of snow we had here have now melted…but despite the fact that we can now leave the house I’m still in a baking mood, so here are a few more cookie recipes I tried out that weekend. The other two kinds of cookies I made that fabulous snowy weekend include Chocolate Meringues and Chocolate White Chip cookies.

Batch #3 – Chocolate Meringues

As I’ve mentioned before, my mother has celiac disease so whenever I bake cookies I try to include a gluten-free option. I hadn’t made chocolate meringues before, so I decided to give these a go and they were amazing. The outside was crisp and light and inside the filling stayed ever so slightly chewy, which was tasty and delicious. An added benefit to making meringue cookies is the low-fat healthy nature of these cookies – as they are made with only egg whites, no cholesterol too! One piece of advice – sift the cocoa! Mine have little bubbles in them, where the cocoa powder got stuck together…still tasted fabulous, but maybe not quite as pretty!

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted

• Directions:

  Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. Place the egg whites and vanilla into a bowl – beat with an electric mixer until the mixture is foamy. Beat in the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture becomes glossy appearing and stiff peaks form. Add about half of the cocoa and fold in gently until well incorporated. Add the rest of the cocoa in the same manner. Spoon the meringue mixture into a pastry bag (I used a frosting gun instead) with a large star tip and squeeze dallops onto the parchment-coated cookie sheet. You can place these fairly close together as they do not expand very much while baking. Bake for 30 minutes or until they appear dry, then cool completely on a cooling rack. Store in the fridge.

  Batch #4:

  I had lots of white chocolate chips on hand during this storm, so in the name of pantry space I decided to make a cookie that involved white chocolate chips. My favorite kind is the ones that have tasty white morsels in a traditional chocolate cookie dough, so I searched for a recipe until I found this one. The cookies came out amazingly tender and moist – we were all huge fans in my household. Especially wonderful with a glass of nice cold milk.

  

  Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks softened butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 12 oz package of white chocolate chips

  Directions:

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, cocoa, bakin soda, and salt. Beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients and add the chocolate chips in. Drop by the teaspoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake for approximately 10 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

  This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 8:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.