Mocha Meringues

Light little cookies with a hint of coffee. It won't kill you to make them without cream of tartar. I made these on Christmas Eve, realized I had no cream of tartar, wasn't going to go out and get any (are you crazy?), did without and had a hit. Although it's probably better if you have some.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 15 mins
• Serves: 48
• Yields: 48 meringues

Ingredients

• 2  teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1⁄4 teaspoons instant coffee
• 4  egg whites, room temperature
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1  cup sugar
• 2  tablespoons  unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

1. Take your eggs out of the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature.
2. Make sure you have two oven racks in your oven. Preheat oven to 250°F.
3. In a small bowl, mix vanilla and instant coffee.
4. In large bowl (or your mixer's bowl) add egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Beat on medium speed until the eggs are frothy.
5. Increase speed slightly and add sugar gradually but steadily.
6. Beat mixture until stiff peaks form. This should take about 10 minutes.
7. Add vanilla/coffee mixture and mix until combined. Decrease speed to low and add cocoa gradually until just incorporated.
8. Using a pastry bag or ziploc bag with a corner cut off, pipe meringue onto two parchment lined cookie sheets. The mounds should be no less than half an inch apart and should each be about an inch across.
9. Bake for 30 minutes, then switch the two baking sheets from one rack to the other.
10. Bake for another 20 minutes until the meringues are dry. Turn off the oven and leave it slightly open while the meringues crisp for about an hour.