**Espresso Meringues**

Recipe by Giada De Laurentiis.

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites, at room temperature
• Pinch fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup superfine baker’s sugar (DON’T BOTHER getting superfine specialty silly sugar. I put a cup of regular white sugar in the food processor and pulsed it about 10 times. TADA very fine sugar! I did the same with the salt because all I had was giant kosher bits. I used a cup of sugar so that I would have more than enough for what I needed.)
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 2/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (I left these out…)

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and salt until frothy, about 1 minute.
With the machine on medium-high speed, gradually add the sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time.
Add the cream of tartar, vanilla extract, and espresso powder.
Increase the speed to high and beat until the mixture is thick and holds stiff peaks, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Rotate the pan and bake for another 30 minutes.
Turn off the oven and allow the meringues to cool completely while still in the oven, about 2 hours. (don’t skip this. Wait until they are COMPLETELY COOL, even if it takes overnight. I pulled them out about 15 minutes early and they flattened within a few hours)

Store airtight in a plastic container for up to 4 days.

**I put all the mixture into a ziplock bag and cut off the corner, and then squeezed the mixture into a shape Jake described as "dog-poo-esque" rather than just dollop the mixture. It provided this rather amusing final product that I think looks better than just a glob would have.

My oven is messed up so the bottoms of these completely burned.

I’m not sure if these really missed the choc chips. I would recommend a bit more sugar, the overall flavour was just espresso and they were rather un-sweet to my mouth, but then I am used to plain meringues so that might be why.

Also, if you are anything like Jake and I, I would recommend making these using pasteurised eggs, because we ended up eating quite a lot of the raw batter and really… raw eggs [plus sugar and some espresso]… not necessarily smart. INSANELY AMAZINGLY delicious though. Jake compared the result of eating the raw batter as "like being stoned, but with added effects of a sugar high"**