Italian Meringue Nut Cookies: Walnut Crescents With a Cream That Holds Its Shape and a Chocolate Shell

Instructions

1. In a bowl or food processor, combine the 2 whole eggs, powdered sugar, semolina and ground walnuts. Work it into a sticky, fairly thick dough.

2. Transfer the dough to a piping bag with a plain or star tip (a wide one, so the walnut pieces can pass). Pipe small crescents or straight sticks onto a baking sheet lined with parchment.

3. Preheat the oven to 285°F (140°C). Bake (more of a drying) for about 25 minutes, until the surface is firm and the bottoms are pinkish. Let them cool completely on the sheet.

4. While the cookies bake, make the syrup. Put the water and granulated sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until you have a thick syrup (the consistency of liquid honey).

5. In a large bowl, whip the 6 egg whites with the 150 g powdered sugar to stiff peaks. With the mixer running at top speed, slowly pour in the hot sugar syrup. Keep whipping until the meringue has cooled.

6. At the end, briefly whip in the spoonful of red currant jam, which gives the cream a delicate color and a tart note.

7. Fill a piping bag fitted with a decorative tip with the meringue. Pipe a generous wave of cream onto each cooled walnut crescent.

8. Melt the chocolate with the shortening in a double boiler. Hold each cookie by the bottom and carefully dip it in the chocolate so the whole meringue is covered. Let them set.