Hazelnut Meringue Kisses
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
- 3/4 cup hazelnuts (about 3 1/2 ounces), toasted lightly and skinned and ground fine
- 42 whole hazelnuts,toasted lightly and skinned
- 6 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
- Preheat oven to 225F.
- and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Fit a large pastry bag with a 1/2-inch plain tip.
- In a bowl with am electric mixer beat whites with cream of tartar and salt until they just hold soft peaks.
- Add sugar in a stream and beat in vanilla and espresso and cocoa powders, beating until meringue holds stiff, glossy peaks.
- Working quickly, fold ground hazelnuts into meringue gently but thoroughly and fill pastry bag with meringue.
- Pipe 42 dots (each about 1/2 teaspoon) of meringue onto parchment 1/2 inch apart and top each dot with a whole hazelnut (meringue dots will anchor nuts).
- Pipe meringue over hazelnuts, encasing them, to form cookies about 1 inch wide and 1 3/4 inches high.
- Bake cookies in middle and lower third of oven, switching positions of baking sheets halfway through baking, 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until meringue os form on the outside and pale golden (cookies will fall during baking).
- Remove parchment with cookies from baking sheets and cool on racks (cookies will continue to crisp as they cool).
- Carefully peel cookies off parchment.
- In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate, stirring until smooth, and remove from het.
- Dip top half of each cookie in melted chocolate, transferring cookies, chocolate sides up, to a wax-paper-lined tray.
- Chill cookies until chocolate is hardened, about 15 minutes.
- Cookies keep, arranged in layers between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container and chilled, 5 days.
egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, sugar, vanilla, espresso powder, cocoa, hazelnuts, hazelnuts, bittersweet chocolate
Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/hazelnut-meringue-kisses-14284 (may not work)