Doing something right

You know you're doing something right when a Frenchwoman compliments you on your meringues. It's pretty satisfying when your nieces say so as well- when they wrap their arms around you and say, " I like everything you bake". Well, that's pretty fantastic, even if the chocolate chip cookie experiment went inedibley awry. The meringues though, were something else. I must of made near a hundred of them over the one week of Passover. And yes, my sister-in-law's mother, born and raised in France, did indeed compliment them, and later still, came into the kitchen to watch me make another batch.

Passover in my parent's house is a rush of noise. We are a lot of people; a lot of children- children who invite other children to play. Generally the house looks and sounds as if a tornado is continuously going through it for a week straight. The thing to do, I've learned, is to be the eye of the beloved storm. Go still and let it happen around you. Get yourself into the kitchen. Concentrate on egg whites as they slip through your fingers. Cradle the yolk in your hands. Think, egg whites. Egg whites are difficult. Are the beaters clean? Is the bowl dry? Did I get shell in them? Will they fall? Please don't let them fall. When you heat egg whites and sugar, science happens, or maybe magic, and you can feel strands of stuff connecting and congealing and forming bonds. A metaphor, if you will. Egg whites are difficult, but at the end you get this thing- this fragile, sweet thing- brittle at the edges and soft in the middle.

Another metaphor, I guess.

Chewy Chocolate Meringues

Adapted (lightly) from Riki Shore at Food52.com

1 cup egg whites (from about 6 large eggs)
2 cups sugar
1 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 275 F.  In a small saucepan, heat the egg whites and sugar over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

2.  Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer, (or use a hand mixer) and beat on high until stiff and glossy. This took me about 15 minutes using a hand mixer. It will probably take you less with a stand mixer. Add in the chocolate chips and mix gently until incorperated.

3. Spoon dollops of batter onto cookie sheets lined with with parchment paper. The cookies will look like fluffy clouds of goodness.

4. Bake for 45 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets half way through.

5. Go through 36 meringues in 2 days. Realize you will be making many meringues.