Instructions: Pre-heat oven to 300* F.

Prepare a cookie sheet by covering it with bakers parchment. In a totally grease-free mixing bowl, beat egg whites on high until frothy.

Add vanilla and cream of tartar.

Continue beating while gradually adding sugar. Make sure that sugar dissolves completely and that mixture is not grainy. (I find that Bartenders sugar dissolves most easily.)

When mixture is quite stiff (consistency of marshmallow fluff- after about 5-10 mins. of beating), gently fold in saltine crumbs and chocolate chips.

Drop the meringue-like dough, 1 teaspoon at a time, onto prepared cookie sheet. I use a very small ice cream scoop for this purpose. They can be put right next to each other, they rise very little. Entire recipe fits on one cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes. On a humid day, I usually turn the oven off 5 minutes early and leave the cookies in the oven with the door closed until Im ready to serve them.

Yields about 60 1inch kisses.

NOTES :
Meringues can easy, if you know a few simple rules: 1) Everything that touches the egg whites must be absolutely grease-free. Fat breaks down the structure of beaten egg whites. Yolks contain fat, so it is important not to get any yolk into the whites. I run everything through the dishwasher before preparing meringues (mixing bowl, beaters, rubber spatula, and teaspoon or ice-cream scoop)

2)* Eggs separate best when cold,but they beat up best at room temperature.

*An alternative to separating eggs is to use powdered egg whites. They are available in the supermarket as "Just Whites". I really like the fact that they are pasteurized (safe for taste-testing the batter)

I dont recommend making this recipe on a very humid day unless you have reliable air-conditioning; it can really flop!

**I use fat-free salted top saltines.

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