Description
Delight in these light and airy Christmas Meringue Cookies, perfectly flavored with peppermint and beautifully decorated with festive red and green colors. Crisp on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside, these cookies are ideal for holiday celebrations and easy to make with simple ingredients.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients
- 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
- Prepare Egg Whites: Beat egg whites on high speed until foamy, about 30 seconds, to create the initial structure for your meringue.
- Add Vinegar and Cornstarch: Fold in the white vinegar and cornstarch, then continue beating until soft peaks form, approximately one minute, helping stabilize the mixture.
- Incorporate Sugar: Slowly add the caster sugar in a steady stream while beating, then mix in the peppermint extract.
- Beat to Stiff Peaks: Continue beating for about 4 minutes until stiff peaks form, ensuring your meringue holds its shape firmly.
- Color and Pipe Cookies: Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, draw lines inside the bag with red gel food coloring. Fill with half of the meringue mixture and pipe one-inch star cookies onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining meringue mixture and green food coloring.
- Bake Meringues: Place the baking sheets in a 200 degree oven and bake for 80 minutes to gently dry the cookies without browning.
- Cool Slowly: Turn off the oven and leave the cookies inside for 4 hours or overnight to dry completely and develop their crisp texture.
- Store Properly: Once cooled, store the meringue cookies in an airtight container for up to one week, though they are best enjoyed within a few hours of baking.
Notes
- Do not add sugar too early; wait until egg whites are foamy to ensure the meringue fluffs properly.
- Be very careful separating eggs to avoid yolk contamination, which prevents stiff peaks.
- Monitor your oven temperature closely; an oven that's too hot will affect the light consistency of the cookies.
- Although these cookies keep for a week, they taste best when eaten soon after baking.
- Castor sugar has no direct substitute but you can make it by pulsing granulated sugar in a food processor. Do not use powdered sugar as it affects the texture.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 25 kcal
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 0 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 5 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
