chocolate tipped cookies

Don't even ask me what type of cookies these are because I do not know.

The thing is, when I made those meringue mushrooms for the bûche de février -- haha, I kill myself -- down there ↓, I thought at the time, "you know, stiffened with a little flour, and backing off from the sugar a little bit, these would probably make a decent cookie."

So that's what I tried to do.

Fail!

I just have to admit it, I don't know what I'm doing. The first try I learned you cannot blend the meringue into the mixture. It flattens completely. The resulting cookie isn't at all bad, they're just not what I was looking for. So I made more meringue and folded the remaining mixture into that. They flattened out too. So I don't know what gives. I have no idea how to stiffen meringue with flour.

Oh, I also learned to plug the hole of the piping bag or you'll get it all over the floor when you're filling it. That was stupid.

I used butter. Maybe that's the problem. I also added lemon zest. Dusted the flour into the mixture. I forgot to lighten the mixture with 1/3 the meringue before folding it like you do for a soufflé. Maybe that was another problem. I did add salt because I know that it's essential. I used 50/50 granulated/confectioner's sugar. They are delicious, and worth keeping, but back to the drawing board. Or work surface, whatever. I still think it's a good idea.

I haven't a clue what kind of chocolate this is. It's been in the pantry now for about two years, possibly three. I have about 20 LBs of various couverture chocolate around that I use for the Egyptian candy molds I made. Come to think of it, it's about time to temper another batch.

This chocolate here is not tempered. It's just melted. That means it will not have the attractive shine nor the tensile snap that tempered chocolate has. That's okay, they're only cookies.

When I learned that ladyfingers are made of Génoise, that put me off the idea because I wasn't thinking about cookies from cake batter. I wanted something to go with coffee. Something light and dry. Maybe I'll re-access that bias and give it a go.

Don't they look good? The lemon and the chocolate are like, wow. But they're not that great for dunking in coffee. That's why I gave 'em the chocolate treatment.