Winning isn't everything

This year has been a particularly good one for our family at the Puyallup Fair. My older daughter, Miranda, got a third place for her cross-stitch. My younger daughter, Maleen, got first place for her cross-stitch as well as 'best in division' and 'Grand Champion'. Pretty good, huh?
I didn't have a cross-stitch entry this year as I am still slaving away on the birth announcement for granddaughter number four. However, I felt a little empty not having something in the fair. I happened to notice that there was a contest for original recipes for Ghirardelli Chocolate and wondered if that would be something I could enter.
I have been making a lot of quiche lately, which leaves me with lots of egg whites. Therefore I have also been making a lot of meringue cookies. I thought I could probably come up with something chocolate and meringuey that wouldn't be too bad. And I was right.
I got rave reviews at home for my chocolate chip meringue cookies. I thought they were pretty good myself. They appear like hard meringue cookies, but they are really soft inside. I made a fresh batch Monday morning and went off to the fair in the afternoon, well armed with hope and a container full of cookies.
There were 31 entries and 3 judges. They divided them up into 10 per judge (well - 11 for one judge), and then each judge would choose their four favorite, and the other judges would sample them, and out of those 12 there would be three winners chosen. My cookies were in the group judged by the professional taster. The other two judges wrote food columns for various newspapers.
Miranda, Bill and I were all watching as she sampled my cookies, and she appeared to really like them. She smiled and laughed and made comments about them (but we were too far away to hear what she said). It took a long, long time for the judges to get through their entries, but we were full of hope when my cookies were one of the 12 taken up for the final judging.
This judging took a little longer than they thought it would because there was a tie for third place. Finally they announced the three winners, and I have to admit that I was quite disappointed than none of the three were me.
However, when Bill went up to retrieve the leftover cookies and the container, two of the three judges just raved over the cookies and how good they were. They said that it was hard to resist eating more of them, and that they are 'dangerous' cookies. My recipe was taken off and copied for the judges and the support staff. The support staff asked Bill if we would be willing to leave the rest of the cookies so they could have some too (since they hadn't taken part in the tasting). As far as we could see, nobody else was asked to leave extras.
It was taking so long to get our judging sheet back that I went up to join Bill just as the professional judge came back over to the table. She told me how much she loved the cookies and hinted that she would have given me first place if it had been up to her. She was also taking one of the cookies home with her!
When I finally got my judging sheet back I found that I had gotten 40 out of 40 points for taste and chocolateness; 15 out of 20 points for appearance; 30 out of 30 points for Originality and Creativity; and 10 out of 10 points for Ease of Preparation. Darn - if they had just looked a little prettier!
The judge's comments were "Very surprising soft center. Very tasty cookie. I loved every bite! Can I have another? Also love that you provided something gluten free!"
So I didn't win anything, but I have the knowledge that I created a quality cookie that was thoroughly and honestly enjoyed. And actually, that is the most important part. Although we signed a waiver saying that Ghirardelli officially owns the recipe now, I see no harm in sharing it. So if you are interested, here it is:

Heavenly Chocolate Meltaways

4 eggs white
dash salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 TB Da Vinci Gourmet White Chocolate Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 TB Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate
1 11.5 oz bag Ghiaradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheet with clean brown wrapping paper or aluminum foil.
In metal or glass bowl whip eggs whites until foamy. Add salt, vanilla and white chocolate syrup. Beat until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually while still beating. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Reduce mixer speed and add ground chocolate. Mix thoroughly.
Fold in chocolate chips. Drop the batter in teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheets. They do not spread to they can be placed fairly close to each other.
Place cookies in oven. Wait until the heat has returned to 375 degrees and then turn the oven off. Do not reopen the oven. Leave the cookies in the oven for at least 1 1/2 hours. (They can be left in as long as you want, actually)
Once removed from the oven, allow them to thoroughly cool before removing them carefully from the cookie sheet. Those that are not immediately devoured should be stored in an air-tight container.
Makes about 40 cookies.
Enjoy!