Description
Delight in these light and airy Minty Peppermint Meringues, perfect for adding a festive touch to your holiday cookie tray. Crisp on the outside with a sweet peppermint flavor, these elegant little treats are surprisingly easy to make and sure to impress your guests.
Ingredients
Scale
Ingredients
- 3 large egg whites
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 drop peppermint concentrate (or ½ tsp pure peppermint extract)
- Red gel-paste food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat and Prepare: Preheat your oven to 175°F (80°C) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Fit a pastry bag with a small open-star tip, such as Wilton M1, and set aside.
- Dissolve Sugar: Place the egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir gently until the sugar has dissolved completely and the mixture is warm to the touch, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
- Whisk Egg Whites: Transfer the bowl to an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, indicating the meringue is ready.
- Flavor Meringue: Gently fold the peppermint concentrate into the stiff meringue to infuse a fresh minty flavor.
- Decorate Pastry Bag: Using a small clean paintbrush, paint 2 or 3 stripes of red gel-paste food coloring inside the pastry bag to create festive red streaks on the meringue.
- Pipe Meringues: Fill the pastry bag with 1 to 2 cups of the meringue mixture. Pipe small star shapes about ¾ inch high onto the prepared baking sheets. Refill the bag as necessary, repainting the stripes with food coloring each time for consistent decoration.
- Bake: Bake the meringues in the preheated oven for about 1 hour 40 minutes, until they are crisp but not browned.
- Cool Inside Oven: Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside for an additional 30 minutes. This helps them dry out completely without cracking.
- Final Cooling: Remove the meringues from the oven and let them cool completely on the baking sheets placed on wire racks.
- Store: Once cooled, transfer the meringues to a sealed container to maintain their crisp texture until ready to serve.
Notes
- These peppermint meringues add a festive and elegant touch to holiday dessert trays.
- Using gel-paste food coloring ensures vibrant red stripes without altering the texture of the meringue.
- Be careful not to overbake; the meringues should be crisp but not browned.
- Allow the meringues to cool inside the oven after baking to prevent cracking and help them dry thoroughly.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 cookies
- Calories: 21 kcal
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 6 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 5 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
