I was motivated to make these cookies to use up the 6 egg whites left from my Creme Brulee recipe. They were very good and an especially big hit with my sweet-toothed daughter! They would make a pretty food gift or as a pretty presentation on a plate for a special occasion.
Meringue Cookies are very adaptable to variations. You can add chocolate or cocoa powder, peppermint extract, crushed candy canes, ground nuts (almonds or hazelnuts are nice), coconut or maple sugar.
Meringue Cookies
Summary: Tasty cookies, that are sweet and naturally low in fat, as they only use egg whites (great use for left-over egg whites!)
Ingredients
- 6 large egg whites (at room temperature is best)
- 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar (processed in a food processor to make more fine)
- 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200° F and place the racks in upper and lower thirds of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place sugar in a food processor and process for about 30 seconds, or until sugar is very fine.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl with electric mixer), with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on low-medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and continue to beat until the meringue holds very stiff peaks. Beat in the vanilla extract. (You can also add food colouring at this time, if you like)
- Pipe 3-inch rounds of meringue with a pastry bag or just use two spoons to drop onto parchment lined sheets and swirl with spoon.
- Bake the meringues for approximately 1 1/2 – 2 hours, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back after one hour of baking. The meringues are done when they are pale in colour and fairly crisp. Turn off the oven, open the door a crack, and leave the meringues in the oven to finish drying several hours or overnight.
- Makes about 20 meringue cookies.
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 hours
Total time: 2 hours 15 min
Number of servings (yield): 20
Adapted from a Joy of Baking recipe | Photo
They were so yummy kim that only 1 of the 30-odd cookies we made yesterday remains (24 hours later!) What can we say. They just melt in your mouth :)
Mmmm … I love meringue! My sweet tooth daughter would like these too.