Meringue

After making sugar cookies last week, I found myself with two leftover egg whites and no craving for an omelet. I'd never made meringues before, and knew this was a perfect time to try them out.

I chose a Peppermint Meringue recipe from Allrecipes.com, though I left out the peppermint as I'm not a huge fan of it. The recipe, with my adaptations, is as follows:

1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 350.

Bring the egg whites to room temperature to ensure maximum volume when whipping. You can do this quickly by dipping the bowl of egg whites in another bowl of hot water (don't get water in the egg whites, obviously).

Whip until frothy, then mix in the salt and cream of tartar.

Whip until soft peaks form (you will see ridges in the egg whites, and when you remove the beater a peak will form and then wilt). Gradually add in the sugar. Take your time and add it in along the sides of the bowl, not directly into the egg whites, so as not to risk deflating them.

Whip until stiff peaks form.

Since I was doing this around the election, I split my meringues in half and used a few drops of blue food coloring in one, and a few drops of red in the other.

I used a #4 star tip to pipe out rosettes, but you could just drop spoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Personally I like the rosette shape, I think it makes a plain item look a little fancy.

Put the meringues in the oven, and shut it off. Leave in overnight to dry out.

The result:
Perfectly cooked. Crisp but melt in your mouth. However, I found them to be a bit too sweet for me (I guess that's the nature of the beast!) Next time, I may fold in walnuts to add some texture and cut back on the sweetness...or maybe I'll just make that omelet.

Difficulty Rating: 1