Shared by Jake Cohen
Shared by Jake Cohen
Chocolate Chip Walnut Meringues
Yield: About 36 Cookies
Chocolate Chip Walnut Meringues
Yield: About 36 CookiesFamily Journey
Basra, IraqTehranRamat Gan, Israel
IstanbulBasel, SwitzerlandGainesville, Florida and New York City
BerlinLondonForest Hills, Queens
Cookbook author Jake Cohen's great-great-aunt Lotte always arrived at holiday meals with a Tupperware of her famed meringue cookies with chocolate chips and walnuts. It was only after Lotte passed away at 97-years-old, that Jake heard of her life growing up. Born in Berlin before WWII, she escaped to London where she worked as a maid. She later learned that most of her family perished in the Holocaust. “After so much pain and hardship, Lotte helped build a family full of so much love, one that I’m proud to be a part of,” Jake writes in “Jew-ish.”
Read more about his family in "Building His Own Tradition, Jake Cohen Blends His Ashkenazi Flavors With His Husband’s Mizrahi Family Recipes" and try his recipes for Ghormeh Sabzi Brisket, and Hadji Bada (Iraqi Almond Cookies).
Ingredients
- 3 large egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch or potato starch
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 ounces dark chocolate (70 percent cacao), chopped (1 cup)
- 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 200°F. Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper.
Step 2
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until frothy. Then, with the mixer running, stream in the sugar and whip until white in color and beginning to grow in volume, but not yet able to hold soft peaks.
Step 3
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk the cornstarch with ⅓ cup water. Cook over medium- high heat, stirring continuously, until thickened, about 2 minutes.
Step 4
With the mixer running, slowly pour the hot cornstarch slurry into the egg white mixture, followed by the salt and vanilla. Raise the mixer speed to medium-high and whip until the mixture holds stiff peaks, 10 to 12 minutes. Gently fold in the chocolate and walnuts.
Step 5
Spoon 2-tablespoon mounds of the meringue mixture onto the prepared sheet pans, spacing them 1 inch apart. Bake for 2 hours, then remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Step 6
Serve once cool, or store in an airtight container lined with paper towels at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Excerpted from JEW-ISH: A COOKBOOK: Reinvented Recipes from a Modern Mensch © 2021 by Jake Cohen. Photography © 2021 by Matt Taylor-Gross. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
