No matter how much I love cooking, there is always a special thrill when I make something that I know has one of my kids or auntlings are going to get excited about. That’s why I love these cloud cookies so much :). They got their name from my nephew, Austin, about eight years ago. I’ve always been a fan of meringue cookies and I whipped up a batch when Austin was over at my house and decided to stir some chocolate chips into them before baking. Austin waited patiently while they cooked and then took one bite and declared them just like clouds – with the added bonus of chocolate chips!
So if you want to be the cool aunt/mama/grandmama/daddy/uncle who knows how to bake chocolate chips into clouds…I got ya covered today!
You’ll need: Chocolate Chips, two eggs, sugar, Cream of Tartar, a bit of salt, and some sprinkles if you’d like to add a little sparkle to your clouds...I mean cookies.
Crack your eggs and separate the whites from the yolk. Add in a pinch of cream of tartar and your salt.
There are all sorts of gadgets that do this but I just use my hands. Usually, I crack the egg and just gently tilt it until the white pours off, saving the yolk in the shell. You can also pour the entire egg into your hand and spread your fingers slightly to allow just the white to slide through while the yolk remains.
Or you can get one of those gadgeterators that lets you pour the egg into it and the white comes out of little spout on the bottom.
Whichever way you go, make sure you don’t get any of the yolk (the dark orange part) in this because our meringue won’t fluff up if we have yolk in it.
Beat your egg whites until soft peaks form.
Okay so what this means is that you need to beat them on high with an electric mixer for a few minutes. They will start out getting frothy and then begin to get foamy, and eventually turn white like this. As you keep on beating, they will start to hold their shape a bit, meaning you’ll see ripples remain in them where the beater has been.
Stop your mixer and pull your beaters up. Where your beaters came out of the egg whites a point will come up. If that droops back down again (kinda like the top of a dairy queen ice cream cone), you have soft peaks.
Add in your sugar and beat it some more, unit the sugar is well incorporated.
It will get thick and glossy like divinity.
Oh my, I need to do a post on how to make divinity, don’t I? Oooh Mama has a great recipe for it…
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Stir in your chocolate chips.
Place spoonfuls onto the greased baking sheet.
I do about a well rounded teaspoon…or whatever size I’m in the mood for 🙂
A lot of my cooking is centered around my mood. Good thing I try to pick good moods out of the bucket each morning!
Allow your clouds to cool completely and then store them in an airtight container, or just hand them to the kids in your life and watch them disappear!
- 2 Egg Whites
- Pinch Cream of Tartar
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1-2 cups chocolate chips
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Colored sugar sprinkles (optional)
- In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until soft peaks form.
- Add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
- Gently fold in chocolate chips.
- Drop by level tablespoonful onto greased baking sheets. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, if desired.
- Bake at 300 for 20-25 minutes or until meringues are dry and crisp.
- Cool on baking sheets for two minutes, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
- Store in airtight container.
I’m teaming up with Nestle to help promote their Bake and Share Holiday Treat Contest! Click here to visit their Facebook page and get details on how you can enter your recipe for a chance to win $5000! We have some AMAZING cooks in the Southern Plate Family and I’d love to see one of you win this!
Some people are so poor that all they have is money.
~Unknown
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Yum
I am unbelievably disappointed. Eight eggs later, and I give up! I end up with white pudding EVERY time 🙁
If your bowl and beaters are chilled (and very clean – no grease on them), the egg whites will firm up well.
Tried one more time….stiff enough to finish, and in the oven now 🙂
So happy I tried again 🙂 🙂 🙂 It was worth it.
I didn’t notice that it said anywhere in the recipe but when you add your sugar to your egg whites you need to do it a tablespoonful at a time if you dump all the sugar in there at once it’s not going to come out right. This recipe works best when the humidity is low.
~raises hand~ I dump. 🙂
Christy – My Momma calls these “Forgotten Cookies” , because we bake them, cut off the oven, leaving them in the oven, and”forget” them ’til the next morning. She also adds broken pecans to them. I love them!
how long can you store these?
Whenever I’ve made these in the past, they look pretty, but they tend to sink on the inside and are hollow. I’ve tried different recipes with different temps and baking times. Can you tell me how these turned out for you? I would love to be able to make them like the store bought ones…where they are solid all the way through.
Christy, do you have a recipe for these cookies made with chocolate meringue? My SIL used to make them and used mini chocolate chips.
just add 2 Tblspoons coco
I have made these and sometimes I add extract. peppermint is great with the chocolate chips.
I was JUST looking at my cupboard and wishing I had put peppermint in them, Martha! I guess I’ll have to make some more 🙂
Martha – that is how my Mom used to make these – with peppermint – can you tell me how much for Christy’s recipe I should add? I don’t want to use too much and have them fall….1 tsp??? Help please!!! Thanks so much! Thanks too Christy for this recipe – so many of Mom’s old ones I don’t have….you are a blessing to us all!! Merry Christmas everyone!!
I didn’t 24oz of choc chips they seemed like to much
But my spoon fuls were not like yours they flattened I was goodpup until that step
Do these freeze well?
At what point do you add the salt and cream of tartar??
oops sorry, just read the actual instructions instead of just the ones with the pictures! 😉
Humidity affects the outcome and how long they are good.
I try these when i was in middle school. I have been looking for a recipe for the longest time. My friend called them Cloud Puffs.
I hope you get the chance to try them soon Rachael, so glad you found the recipe!!
We’ve baked these for years. Preheated the oven to 350, but added one tsp. vanilla. Placed on cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, put them in the oven, turned off the oven and off to bed. Mama called them Bake While You Sleep Cookies and good to wake up to!!!
Are these iCloud cookies? Will they work with Apple iPhones?
Hey Peggy!
Hope your week is off to a great start. Here are a few recipes to help get your Christmas candy thinkerator going 🙂
Make it a good day!
Gratefully,
Christy
Hey Christy,
My Christmas candy thinkerator is about maxed, but I do need to make more fudge~always! Thanks for this delicious Chocolate Chip Cloud Cookie recipe, I’ll certainly make it over and over again.
Merry Christmas! Peggy Watson
Hi Christy.
Can’t wait to try these. And maybe Mam’s divinity too. 🙂 Just a quick bit of clarification, please…soft peaks or stiff ones? The recipe says stiff, your instructions, soft.
Would love your Mom’s divinity fudge recipe and any other candy recipes you have tucked away. I am only going to bake shortbread this year and then make different kinds of candy. My daughter-in-law makes all sorts of delicious Christmas goodies so we can share and each have a good variety.
can someone tell me how many the batch makes? I am looking for an easy recipe for our church cookie sale…this sure looks like one to me! We are each supposed to bake 5 dozen cookies.
Oh Christy!!!
I made them and wish I could post a picture – will try to do it on the FB page – so easy and quick and your nephew is right!! thank you for this recipe will be adding it to my yearly “have to make it” list.
Thanks for sharing and Merry CHRISTmas!
Sue Horne
Thank you so much Sue, I am so glad you liked them and I can’t wait to see your picture! Merry Christmas!!
I have made these for years but have used mint chocolate chips. They are so good and don’t last long.
They never last long here either 🙂
How many does this typically make?
I just made these and easily got 50. I hope the next batch turns out as good because I just found the cookie for my cookie exchange at work!
I am so glad you liked them Tammy!!
I’m so glad I found this recipe. We had a Christmas tray we would get every year at my office and it had these cookies on it. We called them “air” cookies. I am going to make these and surprise them at work with them! Thanks!!!
What a fun idea!!
What is the correct amount of chocolate chips? I know 24 oz. can’t be right. Thanks.
Why does out a little wet and what can i other than that delicious fisrt time i make these
Help first time making and there a little wet what did i do wrong other than that there delicious.