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Chocolate Meringue Cookies
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These rich, yet airy flourless chocolate cookies have crisp edges and chewy interiors. They rely on whipped egg whites for their structure. To ensure your whites attain the proper volume with beating, make sure the mixer bowl, whisk and the whisk attachment are perfectly clean and without any trace of grease or fat. Either Dutch-processed or natural cocoa works well in this recipe. Leftover cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days; the edges will lose their crispness but the cookies will still taste good.
24
Cookies
Tip
Don’t omit the step of heating the egg whites and sugar over the saucepan of simmering water. This ensures the sugar fully dissolves so the cookies bake up with shiny, crisp exteriors. But also make sure you don't overheat the mixture (100°F is the ideal temperature), which can cause the whites to cook. Also, the melted chocolate mixture should still be warm when you fold in the whipped egg whites. If it has cooled and thickened, it will be impossible to fold in the whites without deflating them. If needed, before folding in the whites, return the bowl of chocolate to the saucepan and re-melt the mixture.
70 minutes
40 minutes active
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, divided
4 tablespoons (½ stick) salted butter, cut into 4 pieces
20 grams (¼ cup) cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
3 large egg whites
145 grams (⅔ cup) packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon table salt
Ingredients
-
8
ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, divided
-
4
tablespoons (½ stick) salted butter, cut into 4 pieces
-
20
grams (¼ cup) cocoa powder
-
½
teaspoon instant espresso powder
-
3
large egg whites
-
145
grams (⅔ cup) packed light brown sugar
-
1
teaspoon vanilla extract
-
¼
teaspoon table salt
Directions
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01Heat the oven to 350°F with racks in the upper- and lower-middle positions. Line 2 baking sheets with kitchen parchment. Measure out 2½ ounces (½ cup) of the chopped chocolate and set aside.
-
02In a medium sauce pan over high, bring 1 inch of water to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a simmer. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining 5½ ounces chopped chocolate, the butter, cocoa and espresso powder. Set the bowl on the saucepan over the simmering water (the bottom of bowl should not touch the water) and let the mixture melt until completely smooth, stirring often with a silicone spatula. Set aside to cool slightly; keep the saucepan and water over the heat.
-
03In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, vanilla and salt. Set the bowl on the saucepan over the simmering water and, while whisking constantly, heat the mixture to 100°F. Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip on medium-high until the mixture holds soft peaks when the whisk is lifted, 3 to 4 minutes.
-
04Using a silicone spatula, fold ⅓ of the egg white mixture into the chocolate mixture until almost completely combined. Add the remaining egg whites and fold until a few streaks of white remain. Add the reserved chopped chocolate and fold gently until no white streaks remain.
-
05Drop the batter in 2-tablespoon mounds spaced 1½ inches apart on the prepared sheets. Bake until the tops have cracked but the interiors still looks moist, 12 to 14 minutes, switching and rotating the sheets halfway through. Cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes.
Reviews
October 18, 2022
Light and Delicious
Deliciously light and great chocolate flavour.
December 19, 2022
use all the tools
the first time I made this, at home with a digital scale and thermometer, they worked out amazing. the second time I made this, not at home with no scale, they turned out fine, kind of brownie-like. was it the measurements or the temperature of the egg white? either way, this recipe is worth being particular with.
First Milkstreet recipe that didn't work out for me. Cooking time in my temp-verified-by-thermometer oven appeared to be way to short. Even with cracks on the tops, these just got softer and softer as they cooled and wouldn't come close to holding their shape. Put them back in to see if I could get them to firm up, promptly started to scorch. Great flavor, but the mechanics of getting a firm, crisp bite never worked for me. Flavor was outstanding but for the work involved overall a dissappointment.
Hi Constantine -
We haven't tested these with olive oil or liquid espresso, so I can't say for sure how that might work. I will say that any type of cookies with a meringue base are super finicky and can be affected by factors as mundane as the weather - humidity and rain can both cause the cookies to be soft and not crisp - so changing ingredients will definitely have an effect. If you decide to experiment, good luck, and let us know how it goes!
Best,
The Milk Street Team
Couldn't get the egg whites to peak. Went back and looked at the show again and saw that a 2/3 cup was used to measure the sugar. The recipe says 145 grams (or 2/3 cup), so I went with the weight. After my failure I remeasured ingredients and found 2/3 cup of sugar is nowhere near 145 grams. So I ended up using twice as much sugar which was probably the cause of my problem. THIS RECIPE NEEDS TO BE FIXED.
Hi Jim -
Although Erika stated it was 2/3 cup of light brown sugar on the show, we always weigh our ingredients when developing and filming our recipes (you'll see that the sugar was actually just in a small glass bowl, not a measuring cup, because it had been measured on a scale prior to filming). We use the volume measurements on the show because most people don't have a scale to measure their ingredients. One problem with that is that measuring by volume is highly variable. One person's "packed light brown sugar" can weigh up to 60 grams more or less than another person's! When we decide on our standard weight-per-cup for various ingredients we do extensive testing as you will see here - https://www.177milkstreet.com/2017/12/sugars-measured-up, so I'm confident our measurements are accurate.
Whipping egg whites can be *very* finicky. Even a trace amount of yolk or fat in the bowl can deter the whites from whipping into soft peaks. It can be helpful to use three bowls to separate eggs: 1 for the white of each egg, that is then transferred to bowl #3, 1 for the yolks, and 1 for the total amount of white. That way if some yolk accidentally gets into the white as you separate it, you don't lose all of the egg white you've already separated. It's also helpful to wipe down your bowl and beaters with lemon juice or a small amount of vinegar to eliminate any grease that may be on the bowl/beaters.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
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Your First Issue
These chocolate meringue cookies are amazing! Just the thing for a chocoholic like me! A bit more work than just plunking cookie dough on a cookie sheet, but fun and worth it.