Chocolate Pecan and Walnut Meringues

This weekend was my husband's birthday and instead of a cake, he requested creme brulee.  No cake?  I asked.  No, creme brulee it was.  Okay.  Yes, I've created a dessert snob, but that's ok.  I happily obliged, but of course that meant I had egg whites leftover.  And here is where I crazily searched for a recipe that uses up egg whites, despite the fact that I still had to make dinner that night for the birthday boy, not to mention also feed our two year old and get him in bed!  Priorities, right?

I found this recipe and in all of my baking years, I have yet to try a meringue, so I figured why not now, on a Saturday night at 5:00 pm, with dinnertime looming?  I ended up using half chopped pecans, half chopped walnuts, and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I even left them in the oven from 6:30 pm until the next morning and they did fine.  I approached this recipe with half excitement, half indifference because A) I wasn't even sure I'd like them...no butter or fat? Eh, and B) I figured meringues were super hard and that they weren't going to turn out but hey, at least I tried to be resourceful, right?

Well I was wrong on both points A and B because (is this getting annoying yet?) A) we all LOVED them, even my two year old! and B) these were so easy!  I of course tried one about halfway through the total baking and drying time and they were a bit tacky but I tell you, they dried up perfectly overnight and then when you bake them again in the morning it makes them perfectly crispy/shattery/melt in your mouth.  Try them!