I had forgotten about this recipe! I used to make these back in my student days when I knew I should bring a treat to visit. The beauty of these cookies is the work is in preparation – the cooking you get to walk away from! Of course there have been a few times when I forgot the cookies the next morning. The people sharing my house took care of them for me…

Ingredients
2 egg whites
OPTIONAL: 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (Cream of tartar helps “stabilize” the egg whites when beaten so they keep their froth. It is not required.)
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup small semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup finely chopped pecans

METHOD
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2) Using a mixer beat the eggs whites. If you are using cream of tartar add when eggs are frothy and bubbly. Beat eggs until just softly forming peaks.
3) Slowly add the sugar. When all the sugar has been added beat on high for 5 more minutes to create stiff shiny peaks of meringue!
4) Using a spatula fold in the vanilla, chocolate chips and pecans until evenly mixed
5) On a non-stick cookie sheet (use parchment paper on cookie sheet of you have it) drop by the teaspoon full evenly on sheet. You can use tablespoon for bigger cookies but they may not set inside.
6) TURN OFF OVEN
7) Leave cookies in oven overnight (or at least 8 hours)

Makes about 3 dozen cookies (depends on how big you make each cookie!)

OPTIONS
No Cream of Tartar and the egg whites won’t peak for you?
Rule one is never add salt to egg whites. If you did then just start over!
Since Cream of Tartar is essentially an acid – you can use 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice for each egg. It will give the eggs a bit of a lemony flavour so your meringue will be fluffy with a hint of lemon!

Be prepared to have fun! This is an incredible summer recipe to keep every child pre-occupied for a good 30-minutes or so AND they get a nice creamy cold reward for their efforts! Can you say win-win-win?

Ice Cream Ingredients
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons soft fruit
1/2 cup of whole milk
(if you don’t have whole milk use 1/4 skim milk and 1/4 table-cream)

Other Requirements:
1 small zip freezer bag (about 1 pint/.5 litre – roughly 5 inch by 7 inch)
1 large zip freezer bag (about 1 gallon/4 litres – roughly 10 inches by 10 inches)
1/2 cup rock salt
ice cubes (enough to fill large bag half-way)

METHOD
1) Make sure your hands and are clean! (And make sure any children helping also wash their hands!)
2) Open the smaller bag and add the sugar, vanilla and fruit ingredients to the bag. Seal the bag and mix the ingredients together by squeezing and squishing the bag with your fingers.
3) Open the smaller bag and now add the milk. Squeeze out as much extra air as you can and seal the bag tight! Mix ingredients by squeezing and squishing the bag with your fingers.
4) Open the larger bag and add the ice so large bag is half-filled – and then add the rock salt. Hold the top together and give a light shake.
5) Place the sealed “ice cream” bag in the larger bag with the ice-salt mixture.
6) Shake the “bag in a bag” combo for 10 minutes or until the liquid has changed to ice cream.

OPTIONS
Try a variety of different fruits. Ripe bananas, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches and cherries all work well! Be warned: if the bags are not properly sealed you will have a mess. Doing this outside can reduce the scale of the disaster! It takes a lot of shaking to get the chilling effect going and the ice-cream to set. Be prepared to take turns to get this done. Remember the ice-slat mix will get very cold. Wearing your winter mitts can be a good solution – and is a bit of a laugh for the kids!

REMEMBER!
This is a cold recipe – no cooking! So make sure all your ingredients are clean and kept clean!
Before opening the small bag rinse the bag under cold water to remove any salt clinging to the bag.