Mocha meringues with cocoa nibs

In my quest to present lighter treats this January, I have another merginue recipe today.  These are mocha meringues, flavored with cocoa powder and a bit of espresso powder.  Instead of chocolate chips, which you could certainly use, I mixed in bits of roasted cocoa nibs.

I've been wanting to experiment with cocoa nibs for a while now.  They are essentially bits of roasted cacao bean, or "raw chocolate" where sugar and other flavorings have not yet been added.  The nibs are crunchy and have a rich chocolate and coffee aroma and flavor to them.  I recently got my hands on some Valhrona roasted cocoa nibs and I'm using them for the first time in these meringues.  I think the cocoa nibs compliment the mocha flavor and give an extra bit of crunch and flavor without adding a lot of extra fat and calories.  As an added bonus, they're also supposed to be quite good for you and very high in antioxidants.

The bit of cocoa and espresso powder really give these meringues quite a lot of flavor while the cocoa nibs add a richness to them.  They are crisp, almost hard on the outside, but nice and chewy on the inside.  I think the trick to making meringue is to really whip the egg whites enough so that you get true stiff peaks.  I don't think I've quite mastered this yet since my meringues spread more than I expected and I suspect I could've whipped those whites a bit further.  Meringues are certainly a low calorie option as far as cookies go since we're basically dealing with just egg whites and sugar, with flavorings (in this case, cocoa and espresso powder) added on.  Supposing you're not concerned about calorie count or fat grams, you could enjoy these meringues with some ice cream.  This bowl here was just for my little guy - honest.

I'm tempted to pretend I've been sitting here this January constantly eating things with wheat germ and only baking low-fat, low-cal treats like meringues but I won't lie.  Not only have I been enjoying my Christmas chocolates (slowly but surely), I've made a couple of chocolate desserts I'll be showing you soon.  Let's just say chocolate and butter will be making a reappearance in the near future.