Meringues are largely underestimated. They are a light, fluffy, lower-cal cookie. They are relatively straightforward in composition: eggs, sugar, cream of tartar, flavor (optional). The only drawback is start-to-finish time. Once you spend about 20 minutes getting the meringues ready for the oven, it takes 1-2hrs to bake them. Still, if you are in a pinch for something sweet and easy, make some great cookies. Spend the baking time catching up on chores or washing your hair.
My first attempt at vanilla-flavored meringues turned out pretty darn well. They came out tasting like toasted marshmallows.
Toasted Marshmallow Meringues
4 egg whites at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Parchment paper or silicone baking sheet
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Line a non-insulated baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking sheet. Set aside.
2. Transfer your egg whites in a mixing bowl. It may be easiest to tap the top side of the egg, pull out a hole's worth of shell, and let the white drip into a small dipping bowl. That way, no yolk gets into your bowl. (Even easier- use egg egg whites from a carton.) You can do one egg at a time this way, with no mistakes.
3. Beat eggs (with a whisk or electric mixer) until they are foamy.
4. Add cream of tartar. Beat the combination into soft peaks. (Peaks kinda look like soft waves.)
5. Add powdered sugar 1 tablespoon at a time while beating the mixture into stiff peaks.
6. Add vanilla and continue beating until it is all mixed in.
7. Transfer the mixture into an icing bag. Squeeze the batter into about 24 little teardrop shapes, about 1 inch apart.
8. Bake 1.5hrs-2hrs, depending on your oven. They are done when they are just golden brown. (Mine took 1.5hrs.) Turn baking sheet every 45 minutes to allow even baking. Bonus: Allow to cool in the oven with the door closed to make the cookies more crisp.
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Monday, August 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Cookies, Ice Cream and Rum Balls
My afternoon turned into culinary experimentation yesterday. With a *free* day of no work and no pre-scheduled errands, I had a large window to create a few tasty tidbits for upcoming events. I started with pre-cut cookies in a box to bring to a dinner and charades party at a friend's house. That turned into needing ice cream to make ice cream cookie sandwiches. Once I ate some lunch and finished those two projects, I moved onto rum balls for our soccer-watching get together this weekend. When all was said and done, I was tired.
ICE CREAM
When my sister gav
e me the ice cream maker for my birthday/Christmas gift, she also gave me the Ben & Jerry's recipe book. I made Jerry's Chocolate to pair with the cookies. Aside from lots of dairy (not so friendly for me), it involves melting chocolate over a (make shift) double boiler before titrating in the remaining ingredients. It's a little time consuming, but melting chocolate slowly can be quite the enjoyable contemplative activity. Once the ingredients are put together, it has to cool in the fridge, leaving a bit of time to: a) bake the cookies and b) eat some lunch. Once it's cool, it's time to throw it in the ice cream maker.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Dad brought me th
e cookies in a box to try a while back. French Meadow's idea behind the box was that you can make them one by one and have a hot cookie whenever you want one. It's genius. I decided to make the whole box since I was planning on feeding more than one person. They would have been perfect. When I took them out, they needed like 2 more minutes. And then I forgot about them for about 5. Oh well. The bottoms are a bit dark, but the rest of their GF, CF, SF cookiness is great- crumbly, not too sugary.
RUM BALLS
Our theme for World Cup soccer watching (US VS England) is balls. Yes, balls. Meatballs, cheese balls, popcorn balls, and rum balls will all be included. I can count the times I have eaten rum balls on about two fingers. I really didn't know what I was getting into. I used Martha Stewart's recipe. It involved making a brownie (I subbed regular flour for GF flour), then letting it cool. The cooled brownie is crumbed into a mixing bowl and rum is added. What
should happen, per the recipe, is a giant ball should form. No clumping happened for me. Clumpage is essential for forming the balls. I added Karo syrup and a little more rum until the crumbs clumped. Whallah! Balls. We'll see how good they are when they get served cold on Saturday.
ICE CREAM
When my sister gav
e me the ice cream maker for my birthday/Christmas gift, she also gave me the Ben & Jerry's recipe book. I made Jerry's Chocolate to pair with the cookies. Aside from lots of dairy (not so friendly for me), it involves melting chocolate over a (make shift) double boiler before titrating in the remaining ingredients. It's a little time consuming, but melting chocolate slowly can be quite the enjoyable contemplative activity. Once the ingredients are put together, it has to cool in the fridge, leaving a bit of time to: a) bake the cookies and b) eat some lunch. Once it's cool, it's time to throw it in the ice cream maker.CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Dad brought me th
e cookies in a box to try a while back. French Meadow's idea behind the box was that you can make them one by one and have a hot cookie whenever you want one. It's genius. I decided to make the whole box since I was planning on feeding more than one person. They would have been perfect. When I took them out, they needed like 2 more minutes. And then I forgot about them for about 5. Oh well. The bottoms are a bit dark, but the rest of their GF, CF, SF cookiness is great- crumbly, not too sugary.RUM BALLS
Our theme for World Cup soccer watching (US VS England) is balls. Yes, balls. Meatballs, cheese balls, popcorn balls, and rum balls will all be included. I can count the times I have eaten rum balls on about two fingers. I really didn't know what I was getting into. I used Martha Stewart's recipe. It involved making a brownie (I subbed regular flour for GF flour), then letting it cool. The cooled brownie is crumbed into a mixing bowl and rum is added. What
should happen, per the recipe, is a giant ball should form. No clumping happened for me. Clumpage is essential for forming the balls. I added Karo syrup and a little more rum until the crumbs clumped. Whallah! Balls. We'll see how good they are when they get served cold on Saturday.
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