surprise meringues

Growing up, my best friend’s mom used to give us a big tray of Christmas cookies every year. My favorites on the tray were white meringues that melt in your mouth, with (surprise!) delicious chocolate chips inside. I haven’t had them in years because my friend’s mom is still in Chicago, and I am not… but I recreated them myself for a cookie exchange with my friends today. I’m not sure if this is the recipe that she uses, but they taste the same!

Ingredients:
4 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon mint extract or peppermint extract (can leave out if you don’t like mint)
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Beat egg whites in a large bowl with a mixer (on medium) until frothy. Add cream of tartar; continue beating until soft peaks form. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high. Add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar is dissolved. Wait for stiff peaks to form. (This took about 15 minutes of mixing for me.) Beat in the extracts until well blended.

Mixture starting to thicken here

Stiff peaks.

Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 1-inch apart onto foil-lined baking sheets sprayed with no-stick cooking spray.

Bake all the cookies at the same time in a preheated 225 degree oven for 45 minutes. Turn off the oven. Let the meringues stay in the oven for 1 hour or until completely cooled.

The recipe says this makes 72 meringues, but they would be tiny. Mine made about 44 medium-sized cookies.

Enjoy!