Chocolate Meringue Passover Cookies

Ingredients

2 large egg whites, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 tsp. cream of tarter

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup semisweet Passover chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled

3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste for Passover

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional) If chips contain milk, the recipe is dairy.

Heat the oven to 325 F. In a medium-size oil-free bowl, place two egg whites. Mix in sugar and allow mixture to sit for 1/2 hour at room temperature. The whites need to be at room temperature to whip properly. Beat egg whites until foamy and continue beating until glossy peaks form and, about four minutes. When beaters are removed, the peaks will stand on end and will not collapse. Add vanilla bean, cooled melted chocolate, and pecans, folding in by hand until incorporated. Drop by teaspoons on parchment covered baking sheet two inches apart. Make points on each cookie by touching the middle of each cookie with the back of a spoon and pulling it upward for a prettier presentation. Bake at 325 degrees for fifteen minutes. Without opening the oven, reduce the temperature to 275 degrees for 15 minutes. If cookie exteriors are not hard, allow them to sit in the closed oven with the oven off until the cookies are crisp, checking every 15 minutes. The exterior should be hard. As the cookies cool the exterior will be crisp and the interior will be chewy. Use a pancake turner to loosen cookies. You can also make an eight-inch circle on the parchment with an open center to fill with Passover ice cream for a special dessert. These are a low calorie treat.