Meringue Meltdown

First of all, happy Friday! I hope you all have some fun weekend plans. Monday is our 2 year wedding anniversary, so Tyler surprised me last night by saying we're going to explore St. Augustine on Saturday :).

On to the Meringue...

Thursday, my unit at work (group of case managers) was assigned to make a snack for the office, in the theme of "white". My mom gave me the advice to make Meringue Cookies. Wednesday night, I had 5 eggs on the fridge and all of the other necessary ingredients, so I went to town. Unfortunately, those eggs just did not want to separate, and I ended up having to send my sweet husband out for another dozen. As if that wasn't enough, I didn't realize it was going to rain all night into the next day, creating a very humid environment. Let's just say, Meringue does NOT want to thicken or stand up in humidity. So, after over an hour of adding more ingredients, and beating the heck out of the batter, I finally got some thickness to the Meringue, and in went my cookies. The way Meringue works, is you preheat your oven to temperature and then put your cookies in, turn the oven off, and keep them in the closed oven till morning. Hence, it was a long, anxious night as I was just hoping they would turn out. And...They kind of did. Everyone at work really enjoyed them and they did taste well, but they definitely were not the Merriest Meringue I've ever seen. ;) Anyway, here's the recipe I used. I got it from Allrecipes.com and just changed the quantity to 24 and the website adjusted the ingredients accordingly. Here is the basic recipe for 12 servings. I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

xoxo,Emily

Ingredients:

2 egg whites (best at room temperature)
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions: (adapted from Allrecipes.com)
Preheat oven to 275 degrees
Beat egg whites, salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla until VERY firm
Gradually add sugar and continue mixing until Meringue is able to hold its form
Fold in chocolate chips
Drop teaspoons of batter onto greased, foiled, or parchment papered baking sheets
Place in preheated oven, close door, and turn off oven
Leave overnight, do NOT open the oven, and Meringue cookies will be ready in the morning. Enjoy!

*Tip* If you decide to double the recipe, do not double the chocolate chips.