Chocolate Dipped Coconut Meringues

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

Dash of salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup sweetened coconut

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pretzel Sticks

Preheat oven to 325 and grease cookie sheets.

Combine egg whites, salt and vanilla in a bowl. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. To test for peaks, turn off mixer and dip into egg mix.

Gradually add in sugar, mixing throughly before adding more. Mixture should be smooth when a small amount is pressed between your fingers. Mix until meringue is shiny and forms stiff peaks.

Gently fold in coconut. Drop by teaspoon full onto greased cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie (these things expand quite a bit!). Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden and crunchy when pressed. Cool and a cooling rack.

In a double boiler (or a small pan inside a larger one filled with water), melt the entire bag of chocolate chips. Gently press the cooled meringues into down into the melted chocolate, using a butter knife slid under them to coat one edge of the top and pull them out. Place them on a sheet of waxed paper and allow to cool for half an hour.

Note: The chocolate will not set during this half hour, just cool down!

Cover a large platter with waxed paper and, using your butter knife, transfer the cookies to the plate. KEEP THE CHOCOLATE COVERED WAXED PAPER! Use a chop stick to stab a hole into each cookie at a 45 degree angle. Scrap the cooled chocolate on the wax paper to a pile at the edge. Roll each pretzel stick in the chocolate (about half the length) and then slide into the chop-stick-hole in the cookies.

Cool for at least two hours in the refrigerator to set the chocolate. Remove from the wax paper (the chocolate should come off completely, remaining on the cookie - if not, they need to cool longer) and arrange on serving plater. The pretzels work as great handles for the cookies to keep from getting chocolate all over your hands!

aka Cloud on a Stick Cookies

This recipe was originally invented for a themed party, "Cloud on a Stick", where we were gathering to watch the re-rendered version of Final Fantasy 7 Advent Children. The cookies were a HUGE success, but nobody could eat more than three or four because they were so rich!