Cookie of the Week!- Vanilla Meringue kisses

edit: I did just find the picture of the vanilla kisses. See like I said they got a little too golden brown, but tasted super yummy and melted in our mouths!


Okay so I know I am way behind, and I'm sorry. The good news is that I have still been making these cookies every week, the bad news is that I haven't been able to sit down and blog, and now I have lost the pictures of them. So please bear with me. I promise that this Friday will be back to normal!

So on with the recipe, I got this one from the America's test Kitchen Family Baking Book. If you do not own this, you need to. It has all the info and recipe's you could possibly need or want. They also have great substitutions, and advice for when things go wrong.

The recipe is:

3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
1/8 tsp. salt
4 large egg whites
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

* Please be aware that they may not turn out if it is a humid day out. So if it is raining, please wait a day or two to try to make these.

1. Adjust the oven rack to the upper middle and lower middle positions and heat the oven to 225 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a small bowl.

2. Whip the egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar together with an electric mixer on medium low speed until foamy, about 1 min. Increase the mixer speed to medium high and whip the whites to soft, billowy mounds, about 1 min. Gradually whip in the sugar mixture, about 1 min. Continue to whip the whites until they are glossy and form stiff peaks, 1-3 min.

3. Use a spoon or a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip to make 1 1/4 inch wide meringue kisses on the prepared baking sheets, spaced about 1 inch apart. (I just used a ziploc freezer bag and sniped the corner off to pipe the kisses on the baking sheet, and it worked really well!)

4. Bake the meringues for 1 hour, switching and rotating the baking sheets halfway through baking. Turn the oven off and allow the meringues to cool in the oven, about 1 hour. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool to room temperature before serving, about 10 min.


Now when I made these they turned out a golden brown, and I'm not sure if that is correct. But they tasted super yummy and melted in our mouths. I also tried to make some peppermint, but they did not turn out quite right. The egg whites just didn't want to fluff the right way. I tried twice and each time tried to add the peppermint extract in at different times. Neither helped. Not sure what the problem was, maybe it was too humid. But after the second time I did just pipe the mixture on the baking sheet to see what happened. They still tasted very yummy, the only difference was that they were more button shaped as opposed to a kiss shape. Oh well. Try again, right?