Ingredients
4 each egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup sugar, devided
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp cornstarch
Directions
Draw a circle on a sheet of parchment paper or unglazed brown paper
using the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan as a guide. (Do not use
recycled paper). Turn paper over onto baking sheet. Beat egg whites
in a large bowl at high speed with an electric mixer until foamy;
sprinkle with cream of tartar and salt, and beat until soft peaks
form. Gradually add 1 cup sugar, bearing until stiff peaks form. Fold
in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, cocoa and cornstarch. Pipe or spread
mixture onto paper within the 9-inch circle. Bake at 225 degrees for
15 minutes. Reduce heat to 200 degrees and bake 2 hours and 45
minutes or until firm and dry. Let cool completely, and carefully
remove from paper.
Servings: 1 layer
Cocoa Meringue Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beverages; Dessert
The History of Recipes
Written recipes as an idea can be found far back into the far past, in fact as far back into recorded history as ancient Egypt, and quite possibly further than that. In practice though, mostly, these early cook books were just very simple pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for meal preparation.
In an interesting twist, the most ancient recipe discovered so far, according to academics are a few ancient tablets in Sumerian which describe the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel exhilarated. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, we find a couple of books which appeared in the fourteenth century : a cookery book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are a little misleading though, these books have no connection with the spicy food that is familiar to us all today, but instead recipes for the types of meals cooked for the rich people of the period. Later on, in the 15th century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new foods and herbs from middle-east cuisine, including parsley, basil and rosemary. The introduction of these new tastes caused an outbreak in cookery books, many of which are kept safe in private libraries. Over the next few hundred years, the families of Europe strove to serve the most exotic meals, and because of this the best cooks and their collection of recipes were at a premium. Notwithstanding that, it wasn`t until the 1800s the formal cooking and recipe collections became popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the USA, devoted much of their lives to collecting, trying out, and publishing the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. When we get to the 20th century, cookbooks were starting to become popular mostly as a result of higher levels of literacy, more leisure time and having more disposable income. The arrival of TV gave us celebrity TV chefs and the recipe books that accompanied them. And that neatly brings us to the present day and the internet revolution, permitting us all to access massive numbers of recipes like the ones you can find on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this Cocoa Meringue recipe.
