Melting Chocolate Meringue Cookies

Passover is just around the corner, so I thought I would share a pesach-friendly recipe to get everyone excited.  The holiday often is often known for having mediocre desserts, as people try to adapt their favorite every day recipe to not include leaveners, replacing flour with matzah meal etc.  But personally, I prefer to instead choose recipes that are meant to not rise or have flour in them to begin with.  There are a lot of delicious recipes out there that I make all year, that just so happen to be kosher for passover.  I just realized last year that this cookie recipe is one of those... And it is also gluten free!  So this is a great recipe to have in your book, and its fast to whip up.

These melting chocolate cookies are made from meringue, so they are light as air when you pick them up, and melt in your mouth, filling it with a rich chocolatey taste.  Even though they are light, and small, they are full of flavor and decadent, so just one or two little cookies will fill your your chocolate cravings.  These are delicious all year round!

Note: I have made these without the cream of tartar once, and they are still delicious but your egg whites will be a little more fragile (and prone to over-beating).

Melting Chocolate Meringue Cookies
Barely adapted from Alice Medrichs Bittersweet

Ingredients:
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 72%)
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar

Optional: 1/2 cup cranberries, nuts or chocolate chips

Make the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 175c /350f

1. Place the chocolate in a microwave proof bowl, and microwave it for 30 seconds, then stir, and repeat until chocolate is 75% melted.  Stir until smooth.  (Doing it in small microwave installments prevents you from burning the chocolate).
2. Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla on high speed until frothy.  Add the sugar in all at once, and continue to beat until the meringue holds stiff peaks when you lift the beats (and if the bowl is tilted, it shouldn't move much).
3. Pour the chocolate on top of the meringue (and the optional nuts/berries/chocolate if using), and using a rubber spatula fold it in gently until its a uniform color.
4. Drop tablespoons of batter onto parchment lined baking sheets, at least one inch apart.  Bake for 7-9 minutes, until they look and feel dry on the outside, but still slightly uncooked in the center.
5. Let the pan of cookies cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container - but note these are slightly fragile cookies!