Make It Monday- Vanilla Meringues

I absolutely love meringues.  They may sound and look fancy but they are incredible easy and take less than 10 minutes to make using just a few ingredients.  Also, the homemade version of this cookie is soooo much better than the store bought kind.  You will be so happy you tried them.  


You need:
4 egg whites at room temperature
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup superfine sugar (baker's sugar found at you market in a carton)


Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites with cream of tartar, salt and vanilla. 

When the whites begin to hold stiff peaks, gradually add half the sugar. When the peaks become glossy, gently fold in the remaining sugar. 

Put the meringue mix in a pastry bag (or a Ziploc bag with a corner cut out) and on a baking sheet with lined with parchment paper, pipe  small mounds of meringue mixture. I wanted these cookies  to look like clouds so I used a pastry bag without a tip. You can pipe the cookies close together since the mixture does not spread.

Bake the meringues until hard, about 2 hours.  They should easily release form the parchment. Turn the oven off, prop the door open and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for another hour or so. 

Get creative!  These sweet cookies can be formed into any shape and you can also use food coloring to make the cookies fit any holiday or theme.  Off to a yummy week. XO, Jenny