Nutella Meringues

This last Christmas, I decided I wanted to take advantage of the KitchenAid mixer we got for our wedding.  I made dozens and dozens of cookies to bring to both my parents' and Tristan's parents' houses - plus some to share at work.  Here are just a few:

When I was looking for new recipes to try, I found one for peppermint meringues.  I hadn't ever made meringues before so I decided to give it a try.  The result - pure bliss.  They just melt away in your mouth.  So when I found the recipe on Cream Puffs In Venice for Nutella Meringues, I knew I had to try them.  If you haven't made meringues before - do not be intimidated.  They look delicate, but they require few ingredients and are actually pretty easy to make.

NUTELLA MERINGUES

1/4 cup Nutella
3 egg whites, at room temperature
dash of Cream of Tartar
dash of salt
1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon sugar






Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.  You should have one oven rack on the bottom and one on the top.  Start by melting Nutella in microwave at 50% power, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted (about 1 1/2 minutes).  Once melted, set aside to cool.

Using a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip egg whites on medium-high until foamy, about 2-3 minutes.  Add the cream of tartar and salt and continue to whip until soft peaks form.  Next, increase the speed to high and start adding the sugar by the spoonful.  Once you have added all the sugar, the mixture should be fairly stiff and firm peaks should form and remain.

Drop in Nutella and fold in with a spatula.  You want the mixture to have a swirled look, so do not over mix.

Using a couple of spoons, spoon mixture onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper in large drops (I actually ran out of parchment paper and used foil on one of my baking sheets, which worked fine). 

Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes.  Immediately, lower temperature to 200 degrees and bake for 1 hour.  After an hour, the meringues should be dry.  If not, continue to bake for up to 20 minutes.  Once the meringues are dry, turn the oven off and leave them in the oven as it cools for a couple of hours.  The batch made about 32 meringues.  They will keep for up to a week if stored in an airtight container.  Even better - they are only 1 points+!!

I am going to have to think of some other ingredients that I can turn into meringues, cause I just can't get enough!!  Let me know if you think of some other alternatives.  I'd love to hear what you come up with!