Meringue Cookies

These light and airy meringues make for a great treat at any time. They are easy to make, provided you are careful to separate your egg whites, and you beat the mixture until stiff peaks form. These little meringues only call for 5 ingredients, and at under 25 calories each they are guilt free! The technique takes a little bit of practice, and a long time in the oven, but you will be rewarded with perfect meringues.

Winter is a great time to try them out, as you’re much less likely to have a very humid day this time of year, and humidity is one of the greatest nemeses of meringue cookies.

Makes around 80 meringues (if piped to be 1 inch wide and 1 inch tall)

Ingredients

4-6 large egg whites (room temperature)

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar (200g) - I use turbinado sugar and this works well too

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 225 F (105 C) and line a large cookie sheet (or two regular-sized cookie sheets -- make sure they will fit in your oven together) with parchment paper. Set aside.

• Combine egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a large, completely clean, completely grease-free, moisture-free bowl. I use the bowl of my KitchenAid stand mixer.

• Using an electric mixer or a stand mixer (with either the whisk or paddle attachment), stir on low speed until the mixture becomes foamy.

• Increase speed to high.

• With mixer on high, gradually add sugar, about 1 Tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition until sugar is dissolved (about 15-20 seconds between each addition).

• Add vanilla extract and any other extract you may like to use. If using food coloring, add the food coloring at this stage, too.

• Beat until mixture is thick, shiny, and has increased in volume. Mixture should have stiff peaks and sugar should be completely dissolved (you can test this by rubbing a small bit of the mixture between your fingers, if it feels gritty, the sugar isn't dissolved).

• Fit a large disposable piping bag with a large tip (any large star tip will work or you can just snip the edge of the piping bag for a “kiss” formation) and transfer meringue to prepared piping bag and pipe onto prepared cookie sheets. The meringue cookies can be pretty close to each other as they won’t spread, and you will want to bake all of the cookies at the same time, so make sure you make enough space.

• Bake at 225 F (105 C) for 1 hour. Turn off the oven once the baking time has passed, and do not open the oven. Leave the oven door closed and allow cookies to cool completely in the oven (1-2 hours) before removing them.

• Meringue cookies should be crisp and can be stored in an airtight container. Keep away from heat and moisture as it can soften your meringues.

Important tips for perfect meringues:

• Make sure that the bowl and beater that you are using to beat your meringue is completely grease and moisture free. Any moisture can ruin your meringues.

• Crack your eggs in a separate bowl when separating the whites. Even a tiny bit of yolk can ruin your meringues, so crack each egg in a small bowl before adding it to the bowl that you will be mixing the meringue batter in.

• Add the sugar gradually, one Tablespoon at a time, and give it a chance to dissolve before adding more.

• You can test that the sugar is completely absorbed by taking a small bit of the batter and rubbing it between your fingers — if it’s not, it’ll feel gritty.

• Don’t stop until you get stiff peaks. The batter will take several minutes, at least, of beating to achieve stiff peaks, but keep going. It will increase in volume and be very thick and glossy — that’s what you’re looking for!

• Don’t over-beat your batter, either! Once you hit stiff peaks, stop! You can stir in your extract and any food coloring at this point, but don’t push it because over-beating the batter is just as bad as not beating it enough.

• If you’ve found that your meringues have gotten soft after you finished baking them, you can actually pop them back in the oven at 225 F for another 10-20 minutes (watch them, if they begin to turn golden brown around the edges turn off the heat immediately) and then let them cool in the oven for another hour, this has always worked for me with meringues that start to get chewy.