Swiss Chocolate S’s

With just a few ingredients and simple preparation method, in almost no time at all, you can have a delicious accompaniment to your cup of coffee.

This recipe is from “Chocolate” by Nick Malgieri.

Makes about 34 2-inch cookies

Ingredients:

  • 3 large egg whites
  • 1 cup minus 2 tbsp of extra-fine granulated sugar
  • 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a wide skillet, bring about 1 inch of water to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low.

In a bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl, combine the whites and sugar, whisk to combine. Place the bowl into the skillet filled with hot water and whisk constantly until the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are heated to130 F. The process will take about 6-8 minutes.

Place the bowl onto a base of the stand mixer, or just use a hand-held electric beaters to beat the whites until increased in volume and substantially cooled. Beat on medium speed if you are using the stand mixer, and on high with the hand-held one. The mixture should be stiff and glossy but not dry and clotted.

Pour the chocolate over the meringue and fold it with a rubber spatula.

Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag fitted with ½ inch star tube and pipe S shapes, about 1 ½ inches apart, on the prepared pans. Bake the S’s about 15 minutes, until crisp on the outside but still somewhat soft within.

Slide the cookies, still on the parchment, to a cooling rack. If the cookies do not release from the paper they are underdone and should be returned to the oven for a several minutes.

The cookies are the best on the day they are baked. But if you need you can keep them between sheets of parchment paper in an air-tight container.