Chocolate Chip Clouds (Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies)

After I learned the hard way that it's better to put egg whites in the freezer than in the fridge, I started freezing the whites after making Pepperoni Pinwheels. Fortunately the brief supply shortage of Pillsbury products (and I think also of pepperoni) helped buy me some time to finish the S'mores Cookie Bars. Once I got close, I started searching for recipes that use 8 egg whites (or at least could be adjusted to use 8 whites). I eventually decided on chocolate chip clouds (a.k.a. meringue cookies) from Skinnytaste. To defrost the egg whites, I put them in the fridge for a few days.

Chocolate Chip Clouds (source)

Ingredients (I doubled the recipe)

• 1/2 cup egg whites, room temperature (this is about 4 eggs)
  
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup chocolate chips (see notes)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 300°F. Cover cookie sheet with silpat or nonstick silicone pad.
2. Using a mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together in large bowl at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar a little at a time, then vanilla, beating well after each addition until you get stiff peaks, the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is glossy.
3. Sift cocoa onto egg white mixture; gently fold until combined.
4. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop mixture by heaping tablespoons onto cookie sheet. Makes 30 to 32 cookies.
5. Bake 34 to 40 minutes or just until dry. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Cool completely on wire rack. Store covered, at room temperature.

• As you can probably tell, I used a different flavor of baking chips (like with sugary treats, I tend to buy new flavors of baking mix-ins). They're sea salt caramel from Hershey's and I figured it would be a good pairing with chocolate since most candy companies are making chocolate-salted caramel flavors. I was right. 😋