Mini Peppermint Meringue Cookies Food

PEPPERMINT MERINGUES

Steps:

• Position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 250 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. While beating, add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Beat in the peppermint.
• Fold the top of a pastry bag fitted with a round tip over and down a few inches. Dip a paintbrush in the food coloring. Starting inside the pastry tip, brush a stroke of food coloring from the tip to the top of the bag. Repeat with 3 more evenly spaced strokes. Fill the bag with the meringue; try to spoon it directly into the center so as not to smudge the food coloring (though some smudging is inevitable). Pipe 1-inch-diameter mounds of meringue spaced 1 inch apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
• Bake until the meringues are no longer glossy and feel light and dry when picked up, about 1 hour. Open the oven for a few minutes, then turn it off and shut the door. Leave the meringues in the oven until they are completely dry inside, about 2 hours. The meringues can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

PEPPERMINT MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with foil.
• In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar, continuing to beat until whites form stiff peaks. Drop by spoonfuls 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle crushed peppermint candy over the cookies.
• Bake for 1 1/2 hours in preheated oven. Meringues should be completely dry on the inside. Do not allow them to brown. Turn off oven. Keep oven door ajar, and let meringues sit in the oven until completely cool. Loosen from foil with metal spatula. Store loosely covered in cool dry place for up to 2 months.

PEPPERMINT MERINGUE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
• In a large glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites, vinegar and salt to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while continuing to whip until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Fold in 1/3 of the crushed candy canes, reserving the rest. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls, one inch apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Sprinkle remaining crushed candy canes over the top.
• Bake for 90 minutes in the preheated oven, or until dry. Cool on baking sheets.

MINI PEPPERMINT-MERINGUE CUPS WITH GANACHE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Trace 16 circles onto each of 2 pieces of parchment using a 1 3/4-inch round cookie cutter, spacing about 2 inches apart. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray, and top each with a sheet of parchment, traced side down.
• Make the meringue cups: Heat egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl of a mixer set over a pan of simmering water, stirring, until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm to the touch, about 3 minutes. Transfer bowl to mixer. Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Beat in peppermint extract.
• Using a small food-safe paintbrush, paint 3 stripes of red food coloring up the inside of a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain round tip. Transfer egg-white mixture to pastry bag; pipe coils to fill each traced circle. Pipe up sides of each to create 3/4- to 1-inch-high cups.
• Bake until meringue cups are crisp but not browned and lift off parchment easily, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Transfer meringue cups to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the ganache: Transfer chocolate to a heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Pour over chocolate, and let stand for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and cut a small slit in the top. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.
• Stir ganache, and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch open-star tip. Pipe ganache into the center of each meringue cup. Garnish with candy cane.

PEPPERMINT MERINGUE COOKIES

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
• In bowl, egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt, beat to soft peaks.
• Gradually beat in sugar. Beat until mixture forms stiff shiny peaks.
• Reserve 2 tablespoons for crushed candy for sprinkling on top.
• Gently fold remaining candy into egg white mixture.
• Drop egg mixture by tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheets.
• Sprinkle tops of cookies with the reserved candy.
• Bake at 300 degrees until cookies just begin to brown and feel crisp when touched (they should be very light) about 20 to 25 minutes.
• Cool in pans on wire racks.

PINK MERINGUE CLOUDS

Steps:

• Combine everything for the cookie dough; chill while preparing meringue.
• To prepare meringue: Beat egg whites with salt in small bowl until soft mounds (not peaks) form. Gradually add sugar; continue beating until stiff peaks form. (Once you get peaks that stand up, stop. You can overbeat meringue.) Fold in vanilla, vinegar, chocolate chips, and crushed candy.
• Shape dough into balls using a rounded teaspoon. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar.
• Top each cookie with a rounded teaspoon of meringue. Bake at 325 for 20-25 minute.

PEPPERMINT SWIRL MERINGUE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200°F. Prepare cookie sheets by lining with parchment paper. (Do NOT use pan spray!)
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar. Using the whisk attachment, whip on high until foamy.
• Slowly add in the sugar - a little at a time - and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
• Turn off mixer, remove bowl. Gently stir in peppermint extract to taste.
• Working quickly but gently, divide the meringue into three bowls. Dye one red, and another green, leaving the third bowl white.
• Fit one extra large pastry bag with a large coupler set and tip of your choice - I used used a 4B, large star tip.
• Fill the other three bags with one each of the three meringue colours, taking care to avoid air bubbles. I like to tie them off with a little bit of twine, ribbon, or elastic, as it keeps things cleaner.
• Cut about 3/4″ off the end of the three filled bags and CAREFULLY insert them into the fourth - extra large - pastry bag, so that the three open tips insert almost all the way into the coupler (NOT all the way into the tip, though!)
• Be gentle, you don't want to squeeze meringue out of one or both of those bags yet!
• Use the frosting bag as you normally would, piping small swirls of meringue out onto the prepared cookie sheets. I like to make them just over 2″ in diameter, and leave about 1″ between each little mound.
• Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Test for doneness.
• When meringues are almost as dry as you'd like them, turn the oven off, keep the door closed, and allow them to cool for 2 hours.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool fully before transferring to an airtight container.

MERINGUE COOKIES {PEPPERMINT & CHOCOLATE CHIP}

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. Place one rack in the upper-middle and one in the lower-middle position of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl if using hand mixer), combine egg whites, vanilla extract, and cream of tartar. Use the whisk attachment for the stand mixer.
• With the mixture set on medium-low setting, whip the mixture until foamy, about 1 minute. While continuing to whip, gradually add the sugar mixture.
• Turn the mixer to medium speed. Continue to whip the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks, 4 to 5 minutes. This may take less or more time depending on the humidity. Make sure that stiff peaks do form, but do not overwhip or they will become dry.
• Gently fold in three-quarters of the crushed candy canes.
• Using a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip, form meringues on the prepared baking sheets. They should have a little peak, resembling the shape of Hershey's kisses, and should each be about 1 1/4-inches wide.
• Using your finger, gently poke 1 chocolate chip into the middle of each meringue. Gently patch the hole with meringue. Sprinkle the remaining crushed candy canes on top of the meringues.
• Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 1 ¼ hours, switching the placement of the baking sheets and from front to back halfway through baking.
• Turn off the oven and let the meringues rest in the oven until dry, about 1 ¼ hours (more time may be necessary in humid weather).
• Remove the meringues from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Serve.
• Make sure the meringues are completely cooled before storing in an airtight container.

PEPPERMINT MERINGUES

Steps:

• In a bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Sprinkle with salt and cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased foil or paper-lined baking sheets; sprinkle with the crushed candy. , Bake at 225° for 1-1/2 hours. Turn off heat; leave cookies in the oven with the door ajar until cool, for at least 1 hour. Store in an airtight container.

PEPPERMINT MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250˚ F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat the egg whites and salt in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until frothy. Gradually beat in the sugar and cream of tartar and beat until stiff peaks form, about 6 minutes. Add the peppermint extract and beat 2 more minutes.
• Using a small pastry brush, paint four 1/4-inch-wide stripes of red gel food coloring inside a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Fill with the meringue.
• Pipe 2-inch spirals about 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. Bake the meringues 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let them dry in the oven, about 2 more hours.