3 ingredients, 12 cookies.
15 minutes in the oven.
The sugar, from 30 to 60 g.
| Per cookie | Per 100g | |
|---|---|---|
| Carbs | — | — |
| of which sugars | — | — |
| Fiber | — | — |
| Fat | — | — |
| Protein | — | — |
| Kcal | — | — |
The values are those of the raw dough, calculated on the database sheets. In the oven the cookies lose water: the carbs per cookie do not move, those per 100 g rise by as much.
In a meringue, sugar is not just a taste: dissolved in the water of the whites, it thickens that water and keeps the air bubbles from bursting. It is what holds the foam through the fifteen minutes the oven takes to dry it, and it is at the surface, where it cooks again, that it forms the thin crust that cracks.
At 60 g for 120 g of whites, these are the proportions of a lightened French meringue: glossy cracked surface, soft centre. At 30 g the whites barely hold, the cookie dries faster and comes out matt, flatter and frankly bitter, with nothing left to cover the cocoa.
This is where the lemon takes over. Egg whites are alkaline, and a few drops of juice bring them back towards neutral: their proteins then link up faster and stop knotting into the grains that weep water. The foam holds longer without the sugar’s help, which is why the recipe adds some It is the part cream of tartar plays in English recipes.
The same base with no oven: Chocolate mousse, and in the freezer, Homemade ice cream.