I have no intention of turning this into a low carb cookie blog, but being as it's January and people have good intentions for the new year etc, I've found myself in the position of baking cookies for people who would like cookies with fewer carbohydrates. These Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Meringues are naturally lower in carbs because they're made with brown sugar substitute. Or can by. You alter the recipe to suit your needs.
Lowering The Sugar
This recipe came from my friend Jennifer who found it in Light & Healthy magazine. Between the two of us, it's been changed around a bit. Jennifer used the full serving of sugar and sugar free chocolate chips. I originally used Splenda Brown Sugar Blend and regular chocolate chips.
In the end, both of us ended up with cookies with a carb count of about 7 carbs per cookie. These taste great! If you think meringues are boring, try them with brown sugar, hazelnuts and chocolate chips. Yum.
Sugar Substitutes
Update: If you don't use sucralose, there are other good sugar substitutes that work with these cookies. I love using allulose, but it's not the greatest for Meringues, as they will not crisp up. A monk fruit and erythritol blend or Swerve would probably be the best sugar substitute for meringues.
Recipe
Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Meringues
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend or ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 ounces hazelnuts -- toasted and coarsely chopped about 1 cup
- ⅓ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment or Silpat.
- In a medium bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla and brown sugar blend or brown sugar. Fold in nuts and chips.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Drop dough on paper with a rounded teaspoon. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet. If you'd prefer a crispier cookie, turn off heat in oven and let cookies sit in closed oven for a while. These freeze very well.
mary andaya says
i like meringues,, i will try on that recipe and hoping it will looks like on the picture.
Anna says
I forgot to add that overbeating can make them a little tough. In this case, I think even if you did beat them to the point where they were tough, it would be okay since you are going to dry them out anyway in the oven.
Anna says
Hi Mel,
I can't give you an exact time for beating the egg whites. It varies. You'll want to stop beating them when stiff peaks form. The whipped whites should resemble whipped topping and be firm enough to hold their shape. Hope that helps! I think it takes me about 3 to 5 minutes to whip the eggs.
Mel says
hello! I just tried your lovely recipe. Im just wondering how you know when to stop beating the egg whites. Will overbeating cause a change in state?
Anna says
Mark, thanks for stopping by! Believe it or not, I don't use as much Splenda as it seems. However, for some reason, friends have been requesting low carb cookies and Splenda's been my first choice. But I am very curious about Stevia and in the future, plan on trying some cookies sweetened with it.
Mark says
Anna - I have recently found your blog and enjoy reading as we too make a good bit of cookies. Just a quick question, I see you frequently use Splenda in your cookies, but was curious if you've tried any other sweeteners such as Stevia in your baking. We've steered away from Splenda because of the chemical content (just the nature of our company), but have heard many great success stories. Look forward to seeing tomorrows batch. Warmest Regards from Delaware.
Amy says
I love chewy. Chewy is good. Those are pretty, Anna.
Anna says
They're not chalky and overly sweet like the storebought ones. These are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
Anonymous says
These look great. What is the texture like?