Peppermint Swirl Meringue Cookies Food

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.

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.

PEPPERMINT COCOA SWIRL COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookie dough: Sift the cake flour, baking powder and salt onto a piece of parchment or into a medium bowl; set aside.
• Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the vanilla and egg and beat until incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the flour mixture in 2 batches until just incorporated. Remove half of the dough, shape into a rectangle, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• For the filling: Add the cocoa powder to the remaining dough and use your hands to knead it in until completely combined. Shape the chocolate dough into a rectangle, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate with for 30 minutes.
• Roll each dough piece between 2 pieces of parchment to a roughly 11-by-8-inch rectangle. Refrigerate the rolled dough for an additional 20 minutes.
• Stack the vanilla dough on top of the chocolate, then peel away all of the parchment except the piece on the bottom of the chocolate dough. Use the parchment to help roll the dough into a tight spiral to form a tight log. Cover the log in plastic wrap and freeze until solid, 1 to 2 hours.
• Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Cut 1/4 inch off each end of the log with a sharp knife to reveal the swirled pattern. Slice the log into 1/4-inch-thick slices, about 34 total. Divide the slices between the prepared baking sheets. Bake, rotating the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through the cooking time, until the tops of the cookies are no longer tacky, about 10 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
• For the add-ins: Once the cookies are cooled, microwave the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, stirring every 15 seconds, until completely melted. Dip the cookies halfway into the chocolate, then sprinkle or dip in the crushed peppermint candies. Allow the chocolate to set before serving.

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 SWIRL COOKIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350*.
• Beat butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Stir in flour.
• Divide dough in half.
• Stir peppermint extract and food coloring into one half.
• Divide each color of dough in half.
• Shape each piece of dough on generously floured surface into rope, 12 inches long.
• PLace 2 ropes, 1 red and 1 white, side by side. Twist ropes. Repeat with remaining 2 pieces of dough.
• Cut twisted ropes into 1/2-inch pieces; shape into a ball.
• Place about 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
• Flatten to about 1/4-inch thickness with greased bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.
• Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until set.
• Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack; cool.

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.

MERINGUE SWIRLS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Combine egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl. Add vanilla bean seeds. Set bowl over a pot of simmering water, and stir until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm, about 3 minutes. Add salt and cream of tartar.
• Beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue is mostly cooled, about 7 minutes. Beat in zest.
• Using a small paintbrush, paint 3 vertical stripes of food coloring inside a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip (Ateco #805). Fill bag with meringue, and pipe 1 3/4-inch circular shapes (they don't need to be perfect rounds) 2 inches apart on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. As you finish piping each shape, apply less pressure to pastry bag, and swirl the tip off in a circular motion.
• Bake meringues until crisp on the outside but still soft inside, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.