Being a minor with no driving privileges (yet!), I often find myself with 1) a lack of ingredients, and 2) no way to stock up on necessary ingredients. Meringues are among the many baked treats that require few and staple ingredients, so I often turn to making them when I find the fridge or pantry nearly empty. These crisp and airy cookies are essentially egg whites and sugar beaten until of a frosting-like consistency, then baked at a low, low temperature. While these do spend more than an hour in the oven, there is little actual work that must be done to produce these gift-able and not too unhealthy cookies. Make them today! : )
Meringues
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- chocolate chips (about 1/3 cup)
- rainbow non-pareils, or sprinkles of choice
Directions
- Preheat oven to 175 degrees F.
- In a clean, dry glass or steel bowl, combine the egg whites and sugar (note: it is very important for the bowl to be completely clean of all fat and water, otherwise the egg whites will not whip properly).
- Over a pot of simmering water, gently stir egg whites until sugar granules are dissolved (check by dipping a finger in after several minutes; sugar is dissolved when mixture is smooth and granules cannot be felt between fingers).
- With a mixer, beat egg whites until they are stiff, glossy, and white.
- Mix in the vanilla extract with a spatula, careful not to release the air that has been beaten into the egg whites.
- Spoon meringue into a a piping bag or ziploc bag and pipe onto a parchment paper lined pan.
- Bake meringues for about an 1 1/2 hours, or until crisp but not browned. Turn off the oven, then leave meringues to cool.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between.
- Dip the completely cooled meringues in the chocolate, then sprinkle with sprinkles.
- Enjoy!
Source: Joy the Baker
