Sometimes, you find yourself with a lot of egg whites leftover after making another recipe (such as my creme brulee recipe!). You could make an egg white omelet, which is delightful, or you could make these little puffs of sugar and happiness – meringue cookies! Light, beautifully crisp, lightly flavored, and so easy. What more could you ask for from a leftover ingredient??
I also loved this because I’ve discovered that taking pictures of white foods is hard with my setup. I primarily use a white base/background combination, and yet somehow white on white on white doesn’t quite make the food pop…who would’ve guessed! I’ve done my best here, but any tips y’all might have would be very welcome, as always.
Here’s the super easy recipe! Feel free to add additional flavorings – 1 tsp mint extract is a great one. You can also line the inside of your piping bag with a stripe of food coloring before putting in the meringue mixture. Then you get cute little striped meringues! So easy, and so impressive looking. Also, this recipe scales really well, so you can use as many egg whites as you happen to have laying around!
Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp creme of tartar
- 1 C sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
- 1 tsp mint extract (optional)
How to do it
- preheat the oven to 200*. line two baking sheets with parchment paper
- in the very clean bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, salt, and creme of tartar. if there is any residual grease, the eggs won’t whip up correctly. mix on medium high speed until foamy
- increase the speed to high and add the sugar, 1 Tbsp at a time, until all has been incorporated. let continue to whip for another minute or two. It should have dramatically increased in volume and be white and shiny
- add the extracts and mix just to combine
- if using a piping bag, cut off the tip of the bag and insert your tip. I used a large star tip, but just about anything will work! place the bag, tip down, into an empty glass. fold the top of the bag over the edges of the glass so it’s easy to fill with the meringue mixture
- pipe the meringues onto the prepared sheets. smaller is usually better to ensure they have the chance to cook all the way through. if not using a piping bag, just place dollops of meringue mixture onto the sheets using two spoons
- bake the meringues for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let sit inside with the door closed until they’re completely cool
- transfer to an airtight container and enjoy!
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[…] like to use up the egg whites leftover from the curd to make meringues! You could make my favorite meringue cookies as little kisses to top your tart, or make my chocolate swirl meringues if you want a second […]