Meringues For The Babes

There are a couple of different methods to making meringues. You can either heat your egg whites and sugar before you whip them or not. I find that I need to keep a closer eye on the eggwhites when you don't heat them and that gets tough with the two small ones sometimes. That said I prefer either method, they're both delicious, crisp and light. My girls have recently discovered that they love meringues so I got up this morning and made some using the ever popular meringue swirls recipe from Martha Stewart's website. I omitted the zest and didn't do the swirls and they were perfect. My girls love fun colored food and I was lucky enough to get away from pink this time.

Meringue Cookies
very slightly adapted from Martha Stewart

3 large egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
Pinch of salt
Large pinch of cream of tartar
Gel-paste food coloring (optional)

1. 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, cream of tartar and food coloring (if using).

2. Beat with a mixer on medium-high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form and meringue is mostly cooled, about 7 minutes.

3. Fit a pastry bag 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.

4. Bake meringues until crisp on the outside but still soft inside, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool completely before removing from the oven.