Thursday, October 13, 2011

Cranberry White Chocolate and Meringue Cookies



I have been craving for some Momofuku Blueberry and Cream cookies lately, and I haven't made them again since the first time I had a go at Christina Tosi's recipe. I really loved the taste and texture of these cookies, which are crunchy on the outside with a soft chewy centre. I decided to use the same recipe and substitute the blueberries and milk crumbs with cranberries, white chocolate and crushed meringue. I also added some lemon zest and lemon essence for a little zing.



I had some leftover egg whites from last week, so I had used them to make some meringue drops, tinted with some pink food colouring just to make them look as sweet as they taste! I basically took some of these crispy meringues and lightly crushed them, and added them to the cookie dough along with the cranberries and white chocolate chips. I love this combination, and the meringue adds a little extra texture, with pockets of light, airy and crisp meringue that melts in your mouth. I especially enjoy the bits of golden caramelized white chocolate chips that sit on top of the cookies!


Cranberry White Chocolate and Meringue Cookies
Adapted from Momofuku Blueberry and Cream Cookies

Ingredients
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp lemon essence
  • 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons caster sugar
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup glucose
  • 1 large egg
  • 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 2/3 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup crushed meringues
Method
  1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together butter, sugars, and glucose until well combined. Add lemon essence, lemon zest and egg and mix until well combined.
  3. Add flour mixture and mix until well combined. Add crabberries, chocolate chips and meringues and mix until well combined. Using an ice cream scoop about 2 1/8 inches in diameter, scoop dough into balls and place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
  4. Preheat oven to 180C. Transfer baking sheets to refrigerator until dough is chilled, about 15 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until cookies are golden brown and tops begin to crackle, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

5 comments:

Janine said...

i think the combination of meringue bits ad cranberries sound absolutely awesome! just wondering if i make the cookies smaller - will they be more crispy? i actually prefer crispy to chewy cookies but this recipe sounds really good!

Fern @ To Food With Love said...

Thanks Janine! Yeah if they are smaller, they'd be crispier. Or you could still make big ones but flatten them into a disc instead, and bake them a little longer.

Janine said...

oooh okie great thanks :D gonna try it over the weekend!

Fern @ To Food With Love said...

It's the glucose that adds to the chewiness. If you want crispy cookies, you could probably omit the glucose and increase the baking powder to 1/2 tsp instead.

Jo said...

Delicious Cookies. I didn't quite have enough glucose syrup so I made up the balance with golden syrup and I left the lemon essence out to see if the cookies had enough lemon flavour with just the zest. Very yummy. I also didn't chill one tray of dough to see what happened - the meringue melted all over the tray so chilling is a good idea. I also love how you have noted on that 1 cup is equal to 250ml - that is a great idea.