Description
These Christmas Meringue Cookies are delicate, airy treats flavored with peppermint and beautifully decorated with red and green gel food coloring. Perfect for holiday gatherings, they offer a light, sweet crunch with a festive touch.
Ingredients
Scale
Meringue Mixture
- 4 egg whites room temperature
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 cup caster sugar
- ¾ teaspoon peppermint extract
- gel food coloring (red and green)
Instructions
- Beat Egg Whites: Beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy, about 30 seconds, ensuring they become light and airy.
- Add Stabilizers: Add the white vinegar and cornstarch to the foamy egg whites and continue beating until soft peaks form, approximately one minute.
- Incorporate Sugar and Flavor: Gradually add the caster sugar in a steady stream while beating, then mix in peppermint extract. Beat for about 4 minutes until stiff peaks form, indicating a firm meringue.
- Prepare Piping Bag: In a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, draw lines inside the bag with red gel food coloring. Fill the bag with half of the meringue mixture and pipe one-inch star shapes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining meringue and green gel food coloring.
- Bake: Place baking sheets in a preheated 200 degree Fahrenheit oven for 80 minutes. After baking, turn the oven off and leave the cookies inside for 4 hours or overnight to dry completely.
- Store: Once completely dried, store the meringue cookies in an airtight container for up to one week, best enjoyed soon after baking.
Notes
- Do not add sugar too soon; wait until egg whites are foamy to ensure the meringue fluffs properly.
- Be very careful when separating yolks from whites. Any yolk presence can prevent stiff peaks.
- Check oven temperature to avoid overheating. The low-temperature baking dries the cookies without baking them traditionally.
- Although cookies keep for up to a week, they taste best within a few hours after baking.
- Caster sugar is essential; if unavailable, finely pulse granulated sugar in a food processor, but do not substitute powdered sugar.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 15 kcal
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 5 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 3 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0.2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
