Macaroons-masquerading Meringues

Don't this look like macaroons? They are the most ~~sophisticated~~ demanding thing I have yet baked.I guess I
will never bake this again, unless I get a boyfriend (almost impossible now) and its Valentine's Day.

For one, it involves the tedious step of whisking the egg whites till they are stiff. And more importantly, the inner environmentalist in me screamed murder every time I put a batch into the oven. (Each batch needs 90 minutes, and I had 4.)

To make matters worst, I thought I'd use my strong, reliable hands to whisk the whites, to save electricity.

HALF AND HOUR later... (not to mention the nth number of strokes)

Still no stiff meringue in sight.
In the end I gave up and used my stand mixer.

Thank you, dear stand mixer.

I gave them just a hint of orange so the colour would be pastel. A trick would be to pour some colouring into a small bowl and dip a skewer in before waving it through the meringue.

Meringue cookies Adapted from Gorgeous Cakes by Annie Bell Makes approx. 24 cookies
3 large egg whites
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 oz semisweet/ dark baking chocolate

Preheat oven to 140C.

Put the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk (use technology!!) them until they rise into a froth the consistency of shaving foam. Sprinkle over 1 heaped tablespoon sugar at a time, whisking well with each addition until you have a smooth, glossy meringue. Meringue should be stiff enough for you to hold the bowl upside-down IN THEORY.

You can increase the sugar to 2 tablespoons towards the end.

Line one or two baking trays with baking paper. Fill a piping bag with a small star tip with about 2 cups of the meringue.

Pipe them onto the baking paper, about 1 inch in diameter. ( You can dab a little meringue onto the corners of the trays to hold the paper down)

Put the meringues in the oven and bake for 11/2- 2 hours (if using two trays, switch them around halfway through) After this the meringues should be crisp on the outside, and should sound hollow if you tap the base.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave.

Take one meringue, dip it into the melted chocolate and then sandwich with another.

(If not serving immediately, place meringues in an air-tight container.)

P.S Wanna see my birthday cake? Though it failed to rise properly, its so pretty! My first properly frosted cake!