Chocolate meringue cookies — no flour

Last week, I mentioned my chocolate meringue cookies. And hey, here they are. No flour, so they're great for a gluten-free person. I am a gluten-full person, and I love these, too, because they're so fluffy and chewy on the inside and crispy and glossy on the outside. This is based on a milk treat recipe. I've changed the proportions and significantly simplified the process. Get a bowl like so for mixing and a smaller microwave safe bowl. Into that mixing bowl, I will crack two eggs. And then I'll fish out the yolks. Save those for Holland's sauce or something. Or save it for a different thing that I'll show you in a sec. If you have some cream of tartar, you could sprinkle a little in there. It makes egg foams less likely to collapse. Beat those up for a couple minutes until super foamy and you've got some peaks like so. Into that, I'll put 100 g of powdered sugar. That's like a cup. The Milk Street recipe has you do this complicated procedure where you heat the eggs over a double boiler to exactly 100 Fahrenheit to make sure the brown sugar that they call for will actually dissolve. The sugar has to fully dissolve to get that smooth, glossy surface. You can instead just use powdered sugar and it will dissolve instantly at room temperature. If you want the brown sugar flavor, just add a little dab of molasses. But I don't think you'd even taste the difference in this. Whichever way you do it, this much sugar will collapse your foam. Check it. It's okay. Just keep beating. Just keep beating for like a good five minutes on high. I would never do this by hand with a whisk. There we go. Nice and stiff again. Check out those peaks. Time for the chocolate. Get that glass bowl for the microwave. And I'll measure out 100 g of semieet chocolate chips. About 2/3 of a cup. Too much. Whoops. Save those. On top of that, I need 2 tablespoon of butter. I'll mark it there. And then just cut some smaller slices into the bowl so that they melt faster. Again, you don't need a double boiler. Like they say, you just throw it in the microwave. Just until the butter is melted. For me, it took 40 seconds. No need to clean those beers first. Just mix that. You want just enough heat to melt the chocolate and no more. When chocolate gets too hot, it can burn or kind of seize up. See, that was enough heat. Into that, I will measure 20 g of cocoa powder, like a/4 cup. This will further chocolatify the batter and also firm it up so that it doesn't spread too thin on the pan. Now, we just need the tiniest pinch of salt, especially if you used salted butter, like an eighth of a teaspoon. A gug of vanilla just for fun. And the key flavoring, I think, is the instant espresso powder. Mering cookies tend to be a little too sweet because they need the sugar for their structural matrix, and they lack the dark roasty notes that you get from the baked flour in a normal cookie. A full teaspoon of this stuff will add those flavor notes and balance the sugar. It'll be masked by the chocolate. So, don't worry if you don't like coffee. It won't taste like coffee. I do like coffee. So, let me thank Trade Coffee, sponsor of this video. Man, do I love a cold coffee, especially this time of year. And this is cold brew that I made myself. Let me show you how. Trade sends you new and delightful coffees from the top roasters in the US. 15 of which are now offering stuff specifically for cold brew. Man, you can smell how fresh those beans are. A really fresh roast makes a big difference. And that's what Trade sends me. They also sent me this nifty pot that makes it so easy to play with cold brewing. For a limited time, Trade is giving 50% off a month of cold brew. That's around 60 cups for 50% off when you go to drinktrade.com/reusia. That's been extracting in the fridge for about 24 hours. Lift out the grinds and pour. The cold extraction gets you more of certain compounds and less of others. It's really a different product than iced coffee, which is just hot brewed coffee. that's been chilled. This is so bright and refreshing and I don't have to buy cans of it at the store anymore. Go to drinktrade.com/regusia to get 50% off a month of cold brew. Thank you, trade. Anyway, I'll steal a scoop or two of the meringue just to help keep everything wet here while we mix this up. You could also at this stage drop the egg yolks into the chocolate. If you mix those in, your cookies will come out like this, a little more brownie like. You'd hardly believe there's no flour in there, but if you want the traditional glossy meringue experience, leave the yolks out. Just mix that up smooth. Grab the spatula and scrape that whole chocolate mixture into the meringue. Now is the time for some more chocolate chips if you want any chunks in the final cookie. However much you want. Tradition would dictate that you gently fold the two together. I have done experiments and found no difference at all if I just go in with the beers. Again, the trick is to not overm mix. That could deflate the foam. Just barely bring the two together and then stop. I'll scrape down the sides and do the rest by hand real quick. Look at how beautiful that is. Like pudding. The batter is so sticky that I recommend laying parchment paper on your pan and then hitting the paper with cooking spray. You need two layers of stick protection. If you have a little ice cream scoop like this, that's a good tool here, though a ladle works as well. Just drop those dollops on the paper. I should have enough for six big cookies or one pans's worth. Multiply the recipe as needed. Really scrape the bowl for that last bit there. Sticky stuff, I tell you. In the oven it goes at 350 Fahrenheit, 180 C. And it can be kind of tricky to know when these are done. Look for the tops to crack and then you will see and smell a little extra browning happening around the edges. That's when I think they're best. Mine take 15 minutes max. They're very soft now. Let them cool and harden before you peel them off the paper. And I really like them the next day, like this one. They get chewier after they've sit around for a while. Look at that interior. Fluffy and cake-ike, but it melts in your mouth like cotton candy. Such a magical substance. And not just for people with celiac disease, though. I suppose they do get first dibs.