Forget Me Not Cookies and a hint from my Pastry Chef friend Marie!

HELPFUL HINT:

Mom's recipe card she wrote out for me.
This is a great kitchen hint from my good friend Marie, who worked with me at the Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia for years! Marie was the one of the Pastry Chefs at the hotel, then left to become the pastry chef at the esteemed Asian restaurant Susanna Foo as well as a number of other well known restaurants in Philadelphia. She currently works for The Restaurant School in Philly as the pastry chef instructor.  The great thing about being friends with Marie (besides just being a wonderful person) is that she is only a cell phone call away when I need baking advice!  And yes, I shamefully take advantage of that.

Nana's measuring spoons from the 1940's.
John and I were getting ready for our annual Christmas Eve open house when he was making his Mom's famous rice balls, or as the Italians know them, arancini.  He was using eggs and cracked a bit to many. My question was whether I could save the already cracked, separated eggs for my Mom's Forget Me Not Cookies that I was making in the next day or two.  What to do, what to do ... and then I thought of Marie!  I gave my good friend a buzz and Marie said that one could store refrigerated egg whites for up to 5 days and the egg yolks for 2 days. So rather than waste the eggs, I was able to use them later for my next recipe.  The eggs were saved!

Ready for the oven!
So onto the recipe for the Forget Me Not Cookies. These cookies are a very sweet meringue-style cookie with a hint of vanilla and the richness of chocolate chips. They were always my brother Adam's favorite. Sheryl and I loved them but I always remember Adam going crazy over them. They are very sweet, maybe he had a secret sugar addiction? The recipe is also very simple, only 4 ingredients. Mom always made them for the holidays or for elementary school class parties. Remember those days when your Mom would make cookies or cupcakes for someone's birthday? These days with the sugary sweetness of these cookies, you couldn't get them within 100 yards of any school. I think the sugar content would qualify for exclusion from within a school's drug-free zone.

A couple things:  You can add food coloring if you'd like when mixing, or try it with butterscotch or peanut butter chips. I made a double batch and used the mini-sized chocolate chips. Thank G-d though for my neighbor Charlotte!  I forgot to buy the chips but my dear 70-something neighbor (who can bake better than Betty Crocker) came through with the chips.  I also used my Nana's vintage aluminum measuring spoons from the 1940's. So I made my Mom's recipe with my Nana's spoons. It was pretty cool. Oh, and Charlotte gave us the colorful Christmas dish we served them on. The next morning, you just carefully take the cookies off of the baking sheets, careful not to break the meringues. They can be stored and will remain fresh for several days in a sealed container. The cookies came out great. Sheryl and John wouldn't stop eating them. (OK, I was eating my fair share, too!)



FORGET ME NOT COOKIES by Abby Deeds

Heat oven to 350'F
The cookies are done and ready to eat!
Beat 2 egg whites very stiff
Add 3/4 cups of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
Beat sugar, vanilla, and egg whites
Mix in 9-12 oz of chocolate chips

Line a cookie pan with foil (or one of those silicone baking sheets)
Drop by the teaspoon on the pan
Put in oven - turn oven off
Can be left overnight  
-'MOM'

Comments

  1. MissDieedFebruary 7, 2014 at 12:22 AM

    Love seeing your mom's notes on the recipes. =0)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marc Haynes is Focused at Fifty! February 7, 2014 at 12:26 AM

    I agree Diane! Those cards are just as meaningful as photographs. Thanks. :)

    ReplyDelete

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