Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies
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Delicate and crisp on the exterior and super fudgy on the interior, these chocolate meringue cookies melt in your mouth!
No flour, no butter, and yet these are delicious chocolate cookies — delicate and crisp on the exterior and super fudgy on the interior. The recipe is adapted from Alice Medrich’s wonderful cookie book, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies (Artisan, 2010). Unlike most chocolate meringue cookie recipes, which call for cocoa powder and melted chocolate, Medrich’s version uses only melted chocolate, which results in intensely chocolate, light-as-a-cloud, melt-in-your-mouth cookies. And if you’re a fan of meringue, chocolate, and/or flourless desserts, I bet you’ll also love my Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies and Double Chocolate Pavlova.
“Phenomenal flavor–pure deep dark chocolatey fudgy deliciousness…yet so light they melt in your mouth.”
What You’ll Need To Make Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies
- Semisweet Chocolate: Provides a rich, deep chocolate flavor. The chocolate plays a central role in the cookies so be sure to use best quality, such as Ghirardelli.
- Egg Whites: Create the meringue structure and give the cookies their fudgy texture.
- Cream Of Tartar: Stabilizes the egg whites and helps them hold their shape.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds a hint of sweetness and enhances the chocolate flavor.
- Sugar: Sweetens the cookies and helps create a glossy meringue.
- Milk Chocolate Chips: Add bursts of creamy chocolate throughout the cookies. Use best quality, such as Ghirardelli.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Begin by breaking the chocolate into small pieces into a microwave-safe bowl.
Gently melt it in the microwave by blasting in 20-second intervals, stirring in between. Pull the chocolate out of the microwave when it’s about 75% melted.
Stir, allowing the residual heat in the bowl to melt the chocolate completely. This method keeps the chocolate from scorching.
Set the chocolate aside and separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. My method is to crack the egg in half, and then pour the egg from one broken shell into the other, letting the white fall into the bowl below while keeping the yolk intact in the shells as I pour. Be sure that not even a trace of egg yolk gets into the egg whites; even a tiny bit of fat will prevent them from stiffening. (Additionally, be sure your bowl and beaters are squeaky clean, and avoid plastic bowls which always hold a trace of residue.) Discard the yolks or save for something else.
Combine the egg whites with salt, cream of tartar and vanilla and beat until soft peaks form.
Beat until soft peaks form when you lift the beaters out of the mixture.
Gradually add the sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. As you can see, stiff peaks hold their shape when you lift the beaters out of the bowl.
Add the melted chocolate and chocolate chips.
Gently fold together, taking care not to deflate the egg whites.
Fold until the mixture is uniform in color, but no more.
Drop mounds of batter on parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the tops are crisp but the insides are gooey and soft when you press on them.
My only changes to Alice Medrich’s recipe were to add a pinch of salt and swap out the walnuts for milk chocolate chips to make them kid-friendly.
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Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies
Delicate and crisp on the exterior and super fudgy on the interior, these chocolate meringue cookies melt in your mouth!
Ingredients
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate (best quality, such as Ghirardelli)
- 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
- ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup milk chocolate chips (best quality, such as Ghirardelli)
Instructions
- Set two oven racks in the middle positions and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Break the chocolate into small pieces into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring in between each bout of heat, until about 75% melted. Stir until smooth, allowing the residual heat in the bowl to melt the chocolate completely. (This technique ensures the chocolate mixture will not get too hot and scorch.) Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, vanilla and salt until soft peaks form when you lift the beaters (the peaks should be just starting to hold, and will melt back into themselves after a second). Gradually add the sugar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form (the peaks will stand straight up when the beaters are lifted from the mixture). Pour the warm chocolate and chocolate chips into the bowl and fold with a spatula until the batter is uniform. Do not overmix.
- Immediately drop heaping tablespoons of the batter about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies look dry on the surface but are still very gooey inside when you press on them. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets, and then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Enjoy on the same day or carefully wrap in an airtight container (don't stack them as they crumble easily).
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (18 - 20 servings)
- Serving size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 67
- Fat: 3 g
- Saturated fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 10 g
- Sugar: 9 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Sodium: 21 mg
- Cholesterol: 1 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Hi Jenn, I could only find Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips, not the baking bar, at the store. I’m wondering if it is OK to substitute, or should I hold off to find the baking bar? My uneducated fear is that the chips might have different fat contents or additives that might affect the delicate consistency of the cookie. Any wisdom you can impart would be appreciated.
Hi Rhonda, I think you could probably get away with it, but I’d wait to be on the safe side. You might like these instead.
Thanks for your reply. Yes, you are absolutely right. I love “those” as they gave me the confidence to try these chocolate ones. I’m sure my family would like me to make “those” again. Good idea, thanks for the suggestion!!
I believe I followed the recipe to the dot but I didn’t manage to get that shiny meringue shell on top. Ended up being rough and didn’t rise as much as I had expected. Any pointers on how to achieve that shiny surface?
Hi Joel, because of the added chocolate, these cookies are more fudgy and less shiny than your typical meringues. They have a little sheen but not a ton.
Hi Jenn,
I tried your recipe and baked these cookies for 8-10 minutes. I doubled the recipe and used Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips because that’s what I had. The cookies were set but not crispy on the outside at all. After cooling, the finished product tasted like a combo between fudge and cheesecake. While I didn’t end up with a finished product like yours, these were incredibly delicious.
These were easy to make, the instructions were very clear. And they tasted great – intense chocolate flavor and not too sweet.
This recipe was fantastic! My sister and I made some for the family and they were SO GOOD. We messed up the meringue a little (overbeat the egg whites) and I think that’s why our cookies were a little flat, but they came out tasting like Ghirardelli brownies!
These were honestly pretty easy to make, and especially considering our grocery runs are limited right now, the minimal ingredient list was also a huge plus.
Delicious! The batter is very similar to a Chocolate soufflé recipe I made for Valentine’s Day. I left out the chocolate chips because I didn’t have any, and it was plenty chocolaty enough for me. I used 72% cocoa chocolate from Aldi. It makes sense that many readers mentioned them falling as they cool, as soufflés do the same thing.
Hi Jenn
I made this today but they come out more as a marshmallow texture than a meringue. I’ve had this issue was all the meringues I’ve made. Would be great if you could tell me what I’m doing wrong 🙂
Hi Naf, The batter for these is a bit thick (much different than typical meringues), and because of the added chocolate, they are more fudgy and soft than crisp, so the texture may not have been “incorrect.”
If you’ve had a problem with sticky meringues regardless of the recipe, it sounds like the environment may be too moist. Do you live in a humid area? You can try resolving this by leaving the meringues in the oven after baking like in this recipe. Hope that helps!
These cookies are delicious BUT, they crumble the moment you touch them. Seriously. I couldn’t serve them because I couldn’t move them – all I had was flaky crumbs.
Any idea what went wrong?
I’m sorry you had a problem with these! They are a bit delicate, but they should be so crumbly as you described. What kind of chocolate did you use? Did you make any adjustments to the recipe?
I made these Double Chocolate Meringue Cookies using the original recipe and my family loved them they were delicious. I served with white 2 percent milk to drink. I will definitely make these again. I used the Ghirardelli chocolate for chips!
Hi Jenn, Can I make these the night before a dinner party and leave them out at room temperature in a covered cake container once cooled, overnight, without sacrificing taste or texture? Or should I leave them uncovered? A little worried the meringue might weep or become too chewy? Thanks for any thoughts.
Hi Diane, these are best on the day they are made, but they will still be really good if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Hope the party is fun!
Sounds perfect and this information is so helpful. Another Jenn recipe I’m so thankful to have. Thanks so much!
Delicious!
Such an easy, delicious recipe! Went from reading the recipe to eating the cookies in less than 30 minutes. I will definitely make these again.