Meringue cookies are my mom’s favorite. I made 1 batch of meringue dough with 120 grams of egg white and divided the dough to make 4 different flavors below and smaller cookies. I baked them for 1 hour and 5 min at 250 degrees and then let it sit for 2 hours with the oven off and the door slightly open. Update: They turn out so much better when use an electric mixer to whip egg whites and baked for 70 min. Baked 2 sheets at the same time and they turned out fine.
1)
Mint Chip: Added a few drops of peppermint
extract, green dye, and finely chopped chocolate
2)
Coffee chocolate chip: Added some espresso
powder and finely chopped chocolate
3)
Orange: Added 1-2 drops of orange extract and
orange dye
4)
Almond: Added 1 stop of almond extract and
purple dye. Next time I want to add sliced almonds
M Mango: Added a few drops of mango extract.
Bl Black Sesame: Added black sesame powder and black dye
Meringue
Snowballs (From Dorie's
Cookies by Dorie Greenspan)
Yield: Makes about 10 snowballs
Time: 75 minutes cooking
A word on size: This recipe makes hefty snowball-size
meringues, but the mixture lends itself to small cookies and cookies in shapes
other than round. Play around and discover what you like most. And, while
you’re playing, try piping out the meringue; it’s beautiful piped through an
open star tip.
Plan Ahead! The whites must be at room temperature to get
the volume that makes meringues so lovely, so leave them out, covered, for 1
hour or more before setting to work. Also, you‘ll need to dedicate your oven to
the meringues for a minimum of 3 hours. If you’d like, you can make them in the
evening and let them camp out in the oven overnight.
Ingredients
3/4 cup (150 grams) plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature (used 120 g egg white)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (or ½ teaspoon distilled white
vinegar)
Pinch of fine sea salt
Directions
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 250°F. Line a
baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Push the 1 tablespoon granulated sugar and the
confectioners’ sugar through a fine-mesh sieve; set aside.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment,
or in a large bowl with a hand mixer (make sure your tools are impeccably clean
and free of even a trace of fat, grease or yolk — egg whites’ enemies), beat
the whites, cream of tartar (or vinegar) and salt on medium-high speed until
the whites form soft peaks, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the 3/4 cup (150 grams)
granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; it will take 5 minutes or even a
little longer to get all the sugar into the whites, but, as persnickety as it
seems, it will be worth your patience. After all the sugar is incorporated,
beat for another 2 minutes or so. You’ll have stiff, glossy, beautifully white
peaks. Switch to a flexible spatula and fold in the reserved sugar mix.
I like to shape the snowballs with a large cookie scoop,
using a heaping scoop for each meringue. Yes, you get a kind of blob, but one
with a nice round top. Alternatively, you can use a tablespoon — or serving
spoon — and really pile on the meringue before turning it over onto the baking
sheet. No matter how you choose to shape the meringues, leave at least 2 inches
between the snowballs.
Bake the meringues — don’t open the oven — for 1 hour and 15
minutes. The snowballs will have puffed and cracked but not colored (though
they might be pale beige here and there, and that’s fine). Turn off the heat
and prop the oven door open with the handle of a wooden spoon. Leave the
meringues to finish baking and drying for another 2 hours, or for as long as
overnight.
When you’re ready to serve the meringues, peel them off the
paper or mat.
Storing
Kept away from humidity, the meringues will be fine for days
(if not weeks). Store them in a tin or just put them on a plate and leave them
uncovered. In French pastry shops, they are kept uncovered in baskets or on
trays, piled one on top of the other.
Playing Around
Tinted Snowballs
If you’d like to color the meringue, scoop some of the
finished meringue into a bowl and add food coloring, drop by drop and mixing
after each addition, until you have a color that’s a shade or two darker than
you’d like. Fold the colored meringue into the rest of meringue. You don’t have
to be thorough — leave the mixture streaky, and it will form beautiful patterns
when baked.
Vanilla Snowballs
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract to the meringue
after the ¾ cup sugar has been incorporated.
Almond Snowballs
Add 1 teaspoon pure almond extract to the meringue after the
3/4 cup sugar has been incorporated. Sprinkle the tops of the snowballs with
sliced almonds before baking.
Mint–Chocolate Chip Snowballs
Add 1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract or oil to the
meringue after the 3/4 cup sugar has been incorporated. Just before scooping,
fold in 1/3 cup finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate or mini
chocolate chips.
Lemon or Orange Snowballs
Add 1 teaspoon pure lemon or orange extract or oil to the
meringue after the 3/4 cup sugar has been incorporated. If you’d like, just
before scooping, fold in about 1/4 cup finely chopped candied lemon or orange
peel.
Green Tea and Pistachio Snowballs
Whisk 2 teaspoons matcha green tea into the sifted sugars.
Just before scooping, fold in 1/3 cup finely chopped pistachio nuts, salted or
not.
Rose Snowballs
Add 1 teaspoon pure rose extract to the meringue after the ¾
cup sugar has been incorporated. If you’d like, tint the snowballs pale red or
rose pink and sprinkle the tops with pink sanding sugar before you bake them.
For further embellishment, you could fold in some crushed rose tea leaves just
before scooping the meringue.
Coffee-Chocolate Chip Snowballs
Add 1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso to the
meringue after the 3/4 cup sugar has been incorporated. Just before scooping,
fold in 1/3 cup finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate or mini
chocolate chips.
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