This holiday season, imagine spending two glorious days touring 15 country inns and sampling sweet & savory, original treats along the way. Now, imagine turning that dream into a reality.
December 12-13th, 2009, marks the 13th Annual Inn to Inn Cookie & Candy Tour, presented by the Country Inns in the White Mountains. With fifteen area inns participating, this year’s theme is Holidays in New England and from 11-4 Saturday & Sunday, ticket holders will be able to tour and sample homemade cookies & candy from each.
Stretching from Chocorua and Jackson, NH to Fryebug, ME, no inn is more than 15 minutes from the next. As a special treat, tour guests visiting all participating properties will receive a brass collector’s ornament, intended to be the 4th in a collection of Inn to Inn Cookie & Candy Tour ornaments to be distributed in years hereafter.
If you plan on visiting Mt. Washington Valley during the second weekend in December and would like to reserve your space in the 13th Annual Inn to Inn Cookie & Candy Tour, call 800-233-8309 or visit www.countryinnsinthewhitemountains.com—lodging and tour packages are available in advance, while tour tickets only will be sold the first week in December for $27 per person (space is limited; reserve early).
As a special treat for Inn Cuisine readers unable to make it to this year’s Inn to Inn Cookie & Candy Tour, the Country Inns in the White Mountains are graciously sharing their special recipes here! To kick things off, we’re inn the sweet kitchen making the Bartlett Inn’s Cocoa Meringue Cookies. Fabulously rich, light as air and delicately decadent, these Cocoa Meringue Cookies are quick & easy to make for any holiday gathering.
If you’ve never made meringue cookies before, the most disconcerting aspect may be distinguishing when these cookies are done: rely on your kitchen timer and doneness of this cookie’s exterior (cookies should look dry but not cracked, feel firm and resist gently when touched—don’t press too hard or your finger will dent the cookie).
Also, if you are new to meringue cookies, please be aware these are as far from traditional cookies as you’re going to get: biting into them is akin to biting into wisps of air which dissolve as quickly as cotton candy. With a slightly dense interior (and I do mean slightly), these cookies are sweet nuggets of sugary, meringue goodness. Dusted with confectioner’s sugar, cocoa powder or drizzled & dipped in chocolate, they pack an extra-chocolatey punch. Enjoy!
Cocoa Meringue Cookies
(featured on Inn Cuisine, recipe courtesy the Bartlett Inn, appearing in the 2009 13th Annual Inn to Inn Cookie & Candy Tour by the Country Inns of the White Mountains)
- 3 large eggs, whites only
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
Using an electric mixer, mix egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Turn speed to high and slowly add sugar; continue to beat until stiff and shiny.
In a separate bowl, sift cocoa powder. Add vanilla and cocoa powder to egg whites by hand, gently folding in until incorporated, taking care not to deflate the meringue.
By heaping tablespoons, drop & swirl meringue onto lined baking sheet in compact to tall mounds. Bake until firm, approximately 25 minutes, depending on the accuracy of your oven (cookies should look dry but not cracked, feel firm and resist gently when touched—don’t press too hard or your finger will dent the cookie).
Allow baked cookies to cool slightly on baking sheet (it won’t take long); when cooled, top with a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar or drizzle with chocolate.
Cook’s Note – To prepare an easy chocolate drizzle, combine 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of your favorite chocolate baking chips and a touch (1/2 tablespoon or less) of vegetable shortening (Crisco) to maintain smoothness. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or in the microwave, warm chocolate chips & shortening gently, stirring often. When proper consistency is reached, lightly drizzle spoonfuls of melted chocolate mixture over cooled Cocoa Meringue Cookies in any design that is pleasing to the eye. Alternatively, dip a portion of cooled cookies into the melted chocolate mixture and place on parchment paper until set.
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Scrumptious meringues!
With all of those cookies and candy, I think I’d have to walk or ski from inn to inn to work it off! Sounds like a fun thing to do, in one of my favorite parts of the country.
What a fun journey this would be to sample cookies from inn to inn. Since I am not in the Wahington area I will be back to visit.
melt in your mouth, that’s what i think when i hear the word meringue. the fact that these are also chocolate makes me even happier.
tis the season.. YUM
gp