I love cookbooks. I mean I really, really love cookbooks. You may remember that not long ago BeeBop built me some very special bookcases just to hold my cookbooks. Whenever we go to the bookstore, which is pretty often, the cookbook section is where I head first. I read cookbooks like some people read novels. There’s usually one or more by my chair in the living room just waiting for me to find a few minutes to sit down and browse.
Some of my favorite cookbooks are those that are self-published by Junior League organizations. Those junior league girls just have the best recipes! I recently bought several older junior league cookbooks on eBay. One of them was a 1976 edition of “Southern Accents” from Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and within its pages I found this absolute gem of a recipe!
The recipe is called Forgotten Cookies, but these little jewels are much more than a cookie. They’re tiny little meringes full of chocolate chips and pecans, each just bursting with flavor. These little morsels have a delightfully crunchy exterior that instantly melts in your mouth followed by that classic combination of chocolate and pecans. What a delight to serve for a light dessert or simply enjoy with a glass of wine or cup of coffee!
2 egg whites
Pinch of salt
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
6 oz. mini chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat egg whites and salt until frothy. Add sugar gradually, while continuing to beat until stiff.
Add the vanilla, chocolate chips and pecans. (Note: I used a clear vanilla extract so that the meringue would stay as white as possible, but you can use whatever you have on hand.) Fold in the chocolate chips and pecans.
Drop by teaspoons on foil covered baking sheets. Place in the preheated oven and then turn the oven off. Leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Do not open the oven door.
The next morning you’ll have 3-4 dozen beautiful little chocolate-pecan meringues to enjoy!
Forgotten Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- Pinch of salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 6 oz. mini chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Beat egg whites and salt; add sugar gradually, beating until stiff. Fold in remaining ingredients stirring well.
- Drop by teaspoons on foil covered baking sheets. Place in oven and turn oven off. Leave cookies in oven overnight. Do not open door.
- The next morning, remove the cookies from the oven and enjoy!
Notes
Recipe from Southern Accent, published by the Junior League of Pine Bluff,
Arkansas, 1976.
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–Recipe from Southern Accents,
published by Junior League of Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Other great recipes that feature baked meringues:
- Meringue Hearts recipe from Joy of Baking
- Ina Garten’s Mixed Berry Pavlova
- Swiss Meringue Shells from Taste of Home
- White Chocolate Mousse in Chocolate Meringue Shells by Emeril Lagasse
I am with ya….junior league girls could throw down! Love this! ;)
Yep. I don’t know why, but they have the best cookbooks I’ve ever seen. Love finding the vintage copies, too. Great stuff in those!
How cute these cookies are! And they look so very easy. I especially love that they get left in the oven overnight. I’m always looking for a new and simple cookie to use for Christmas and this looks like a great one to try.
I share your addiction for cookbooks. I’m sure there is some type of help group for that, but I’m not willing to own up to the addiction yet. :)
Thanks for posting these.
Yeah, probably some support group for us cookbook addicts, but I’m not looking to find it!
What a delightful cookie. I can’t wait to try these.
These certainly are a treasure. However, I see an immediate problem with the recipe: “Leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Do not open the oven door.” There is absolutely no way I would be able resist taking just a peek, just a taste!
LOL, Barbara. Yes, it’s hard to keep that oven door closed especially when the aroma of chocolate is filling the house!
WOW… these are just wonderful! I’d love to make these as soon as the humidity decreases a bit!
Thank you, Deeba. I made these on a very high humidity day and they still turned out great for me.
My grandmother used to make meringue cookies like this, filled with either chocolate or crystallized ginger. Love them!
Oh, the crystallized ginger sounds great! I’d have never thought of that.
so funny the idea of forgotten cookies. I have a Junior League of San Francisco Cookbook in the garage, maybe I should dig it out. Lovely cookies!
I love the junior league cookbooks! These look great Lana!
These look delicious! What a great find.
I make a cookie like this minus the nuts and we call them Surprise Cookies. We love them! I’ll have to try it with the nuts!
How simple! My kind of recipe plus chocolate and nuts! Thanks Lana.
Yum! I love meringue cookies! So addictive.
I can’t believe you have to leave these goodies in the oven overnight. Love the pecans & chocolate chips.
My family has been making these exact cookies for years! I think it was a recipe from my great-grandmother? So awesome to see them posted to a blog like this. :) They are super easy, absolutely delicious, and can vary from light and crumbly to slightly chewy and rich, depending on how fluffy you get the egg whites. We make them every year as Christmas cookies.
These are my absolute favorite cookies; My Grammy’s made them since I was a toddler. Except we call them Nighty Nights :)
I wonder how it would taste with almond extract and crystallized ginger… or white chocolate chips and pistachios… or ground cardamom and pumpkin seeds… or… or… I need to go buy more eggs.
I made these last night – yummy! Had to use chopped nuts, which were a lot smaller, but still – pretty good. Unfortunately I don’t have an electric whisk so I had to do it manually and it took all night and it never even became stiff! That was OK thought because they ended up being perfect drop cookie shapes!
I’m so glad you liked them, Celeste!
I remember when I was around 9 or 10 years old (I’m 40 now) seeing this recipe in Highlights Magazine and begging my mom to make them. I’ll have to make them again. Thanks for sharing!
Wow made these for the first time last week them again tonight. Loved them so much. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi Lana,
I have been looking for a recipe like Forgotten Cookies. My family knows them as Wespenester Cookies, a German Christmas cookie.
I made them and love the technique of immediately turning the oven off and letting these little gems sit in it overnight.
Thank you!
I wonder how they would be if I substituted the chocolate chips with dried sweet cranberries or craisins.
I thought of this blog post when I was at the Ohio Bookstore during Christmas time – and found a few junior league cookbooks! I have had the one from MI for years and love it! I love these cookies – my Mother used to make a variation of them with just chocolate chips! delicious!
I have a gas stove. Will these still work in the gas oven since the pilot light is on? Or would they dry out?
I only have an electric oven, so I’ve never tried it with gas. I assume it would work but can’t say for sure.
I have made these every holiday growing up. Once I moved into my new home we bought a gas oven. So not the same and it’s devastating. They end up chewy. Gas ovens don’t stay warm as long as an electric oven. I have found a couple recipes geared towards gas ovens. Fingers crossed they produce same results! If not, I will have to bribe my mom into making me some lol