A while back, I mentioned that I needed to bring treats to our church's coffee hour at the end of the month. Well, here we are, last weekend of the month. When talking about running low on butter and oil, Kris suggested that I make meringues. Meringues are not only an excellent suggestion when thinking of baking with minimal fat, but they are super-duper frugal all around, comprised of sugar, egg whites, and flavorings of choice. Today, I'm baking cocoa-chocolate chip meringues. A batch of 2 1/2 dozen cost me about 55 cents, or 22 cents per dozen. That is about one-third of what I spend to make the traditional chocolate chip cookie. So, what accounts for the cost difference? Meringues have no butter, flour, salt, or baking soda, and less sugar. In addition, for this batch, I substituted chopped dipping chocolate for the chocolate chips.
Here's my sister-in-law's recipe that I use:
Gini's Cocoa-Chocolate Chip Kisses
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon chocolate jimmies/sprinkles (optional)
Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment or foil.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, continuing to beat.
Add vanilla, reduce speed and add cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon at a time. Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded teaspoons onto the baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Optional - sprinkle the chocolate jimmies onto the mounds of meringue.
Bake for 1 hour. Do not open oven door. Turn oven off and dry the meringues in the oven for 2 additional hours.
Remove from parchment or foil and store in an airtight container. (Foil can be washed and reused, BTW.)
I was out of chocolate chips, so I turned to my supply of clearance-purchased dipping chocolate (the chocolate that I used to make the candy bunnies).
I paid $1.69 for a 16-oz package and used 1.75 ounces for today's batch of meringues. For price comparison, I normally pay about $2.50/lb for chocolate chips in a 12-oz bag. It should be noted, the dipping/coating chocolate is only a good deal when it's on clearance. If I had used store-brand chocolate chips, then my cost per 2 1/2 dozen batch would have been around 79 cents, or 31 cents per dozen, still about half of what traditional chocolate chip cookies (made with butter, flour, and brown sugar) would have cost.
Anyway, aside from the savings, these Cocoa-Chocolate Chip Kisses are a real winner.
I'll also be baking coconut meringues and cherry meringues for this weekend. For the coconut meringues, I follow the above directions and omit the cocoa powder, chocolate chips, vanilla, and chocolate jimmies, and include about 3/4 cup of shredded coconut and 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract. For the cherry meringues, I omit the cocoa powder, chocolate chips, vanilla, and chocolate jimmies, and include about 3/4 cup chopped candied cherries, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, and a bit of red food coloring. I'll post a photo when I bake those two.
