These tasty meringues are fat free and "melt-in-your-mouth". If you are looking for an easy recipe to make for someone who is avoiding gluten, this perfect as you do not need to buy any special ingredients. The recipe comes from Julie Van Rosendaal, author of Grazing: Portable snacks and finger foods for anytime, anywhere. I made these little cookies look a bit fancy by using a pastry bag with a large star tip - the largest I could find. I had a couple of unsuccessful attempts when I used a star tip that was too small and the chocolate chips and candy cane pieces got stuck. I hope you can avoid this. However, you do not need to use a star tip. You can simply use two spoons.
Ingredients
4 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup icing sugar
3 peppermint candy canes
1/2 cup chocolate chips, coarsely chopped
Method
1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place candy canes in a zip-lock baggie and bash with a rolling pin until they are coarsely crushed.
3. Place egg whites and cream of tartar in a glass or stainless steel bowl and beat at medium speed until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add sugars, beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in crushed candy and chocolate.
4. Drop the meringue mixture in spoonfuls onto the prepared sheets, swirling the tops. Bake for 1 1/2 hours; turn the oven off and let them cool in the closed oven for 2 hours. Carefully peel the meringues from the paper.
Makes about 3 dozen meringues.
I tried making these Laura, but my meringue wont form stiff peaks. I wonder what I did wrong?
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
DeleteI had this happen once recently and I wondered if my egg whites were too "old" as I had set them aside in my fridge for a couple of days. I'm not sure if this would matter or not. Were you able to finish making the cookies? I wish I could give you a more definitive answer.
Hmm, I wonder if that was it? I bought a carton of egg whites for something else I was doing and used them for the meringue. I ended up just baking it in pie plates and it tasted nice.
ReplyDeleteKris - I wonder too. I am glad you were able to use the egg whites for the meringue. If the meringue worked and was dry and crispy (so to speak), it may have worked for these cookies. Or perhaps you used the egg whites for the top of a pie (and in that case, they would not be crispy). I know to be careful to use a bowl and beaters that are free from any sort of grease, but you probably know that too :) I hope you have better success next time.
Delete