Pastel meringues serve as an elegant and festive end to your Easter brunch. Photo courtesy McCormick.
March 2010 |
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Easter Brunch Recipes
Page 5: Festive Meringue Cookies
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Festive Meringue Cookies
Fat-free, lower-calorie, airy meringue cookies are the perfect way to top off your Easter brunch. You can serve them with ice cream or sorbet; or, if everyone has had enough to eat, with nothing more than a cup of coffee or tea or a glass of milk.
- If you want several colors, divide the meringue at Step 3 below;
or just make multiple batches: These crisp cookies make wonderful
Easter gifts!
- You can include mini chocolate chips if desired, or keep the pastel
colors pure.
Recipe yields 6 dozen small meringue cookies.
Ingredients
-
4 egg whites, at room temperature
-
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
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1 cup sugar
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1 teaspoon vanilla extract*
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25 to 30 drops food coloring in various colors (along with
regular
food
colors, McCormick makes neon food colors that were used
to achieve the pastel colors seen in the photo above)
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
*Or use 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/2 teaspoon mint extract for mint meringues.
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 225°.
- Beat egg whites in large bowl with electric mixer on low-medium speed until frothy. (If using a freestanding mixer, use wire whisk attachment.)
- Add cream of tartar; continue to beat until soft peaks form.
- Increase speed to medium-high. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Beat in extract and food color until well blended. Gently stir in chips, if desired.
BAKER’S TIP: The meringue is finished if you rub a bit between your fingers and it feels smooth. If it feels gritty, then the sugar has not fully dissolved; keep beating.
- To get the swirled meringues in the photo above, use a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) plain tip. Otherwise, drop by rounded teaspoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto 2 large foil-lined baking sheets sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Bake both sheets at the same time, for 45 minutes. Let the meringues stand in the oven with the door ajar for 1 hour, or until completely cooled. (You can let them sit overnight in the cold oven.)
- The cookies will keep, stored in an airtight container, for 3 days or more.
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Recipe courtesy McCormick. All other materials
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