There are some things in the world that make me feel like an adult. Most of the time my brain likes to idle in the fact that I’m somewhere between ten and twelve years old. When I thought I was pretty cool. When I thought I had a pretty good handle on things. Before the painfully awkward Blossom hats and frizzy hair set in.
Something has happened though. Time I suppose. I’ve turned around and been hit square in the face with what feels like adult things.
Um… retirement plan? Yea… I have one. It’s totally weird.
Going to the airport by myself? Um… hello!? I need an adult to carry my boarding pass and my ID and to make sure I have matching socks on! Oh… I am the adult. Seriously?
Shoe shopping. No one is there to pinch the edge of my shoe and make sure I have enough toe room. How am I supposed to know if they fit!? I can’t very well pinch my own shoes!
And then there are things that show me that maybe I’m not so adult after all.
My Mom still nags me to write holiday and birthday thank you notes.
I love hot chocolate with marshmallows. I mean seriously. Come on! That’s some good stuff.
And these Peppermint Meringues remind me of the soft after dinner mints that I used to horde from my favorite Italian restaurant growing up. Do you know the mints I’m talking about? The somewhat chalky, melt in your mouth, white mints? I’m still a sucker for those things. I may have eaten them for dinner a few weeks back. Don’t judge me.
These Peppermint Meringues have just enough bite, just enough give, just enough sweetness and just enough mint to remind me of those gorgeous mints of my childhood. In turn, that minty feeling works to negate the blinding reality of being an adult with a retirement plan, because that just makes me feel like a big weirdo. No offense to those who have, or want, weirdo retirement plans. I mean no harm.
Oh! I’ve been on a cookie kick lately. I made some deliciously buttery Cherry Jam Cookies too!
Peppermint Meringues
recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
- 3 large egg whites
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
- Red gel-paste food coloring
- Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; secure corners with masking tape. Fit a pastry bag with a small open-star tip (such as Ateco #22). Set aside.
- Make meringues: Put egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir gently until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Transfer bowl to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Mix in peppermint extract.
- Using a new small paintbrush, paint 2 or 3 stripes of red food coloring inside the pastry bag. Fill bag with 1 to 2 cups meringue. Pipe small (3/4-inch-high) star shapes onto prepared baking sheets. Refill bag as necessary, adding food coloring each time.
- Bake cookies until crisp but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }
These don’t sound to difficult. I always thought making meringues were tough, but I will give these a try. The beauty of these are inspiring! You take great photos!
OMG those look amazing!! I have a cookie exchange next week, i might just have to whip some up and try my hand at the multicolored piping. Great job! Those are beautiful!
Oh what beauty! I’ve never made Meringues before…these are just gorgeous!
Your meringues are beautiful! Of course everything you make turns out lovely!
~ingrid
These meringues look amazing! I am totally not a baker/chef and was thinking you painted the swirls of red onto the cookies by hand. Since I don’t bake can I send you my address for a care package??
Amazing!! I have those on my list of things I want to make (but may not have time to do it all) from the Martha cookbook! I know mine could NEVER turn out as pretty as yours.
I *think* I am going to make another good Christmasy recipe from her book tomorrow night though… All I’ll say is it involves Gingerbread!
Those look scrumptious! Much better than the ones I saw at the store the other day. Do you have a recipe for peppermint bark? I really want to make some.
I used to swipe a huge handful whenever our family left the Olive Garden. Between the breadsticks and those mints I swear it was my favorite childhood restaurant.
Very festive! What a fun holiday treat.
Whoooo! Go you Joy! These look fab. I think I’ll give them a go :)
You’re on a peppermint roll! And never grow up, please! Childhood memories are the funnest (is that a word? whatever!) to recreate.
Those are just so pretty! very festive!
Oh wow, they look almost too good to eat! Brilliant stuff, just gorgeous :D
So purdy! I totally know what you’re talking about. Those puffy after dinner mints! I love those things! haha.
/Clara
These are gorgeous–I want to shellac them and put them on my tree as ornaments!
How pretty!
So pretty and Christmasy. I love them!
Beautiful!! I just want one right now!!
Even though we have the snow, it’s looking a lot more like Christmas at Joy the Baker than around here. These are festive, darling, elegant–love them!
Joy – those are so beautiful! I love the photography.
I have a love/hate relationship with adulthood. There are often times I wish I had my mommy to take care of things for me ;)
Was JUST looking at these on MS.com and decided I might have to draw the line at painting food coloring stripes. So lovely to see them done up so nicely minutes later! Alas, I still haven’t figure out how to use my extra cup of egg whites…
Those are so beautiful! My almost 3 y/o is sitting here with me and she wants me to make them. Well…your sourdough pancakes didn’t let me down (we had ‘em this past Sunday morning – delicious) so I think I may give these a whirl! :) Yours are beautiful, mine won’t be but I’m certainly willing to try. :)
I love these! They are soooo cute!
Ten minutes ago, I was flipping thru the Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook I bought just today and saw the picture and recipe for the Peppermint Meringues with Chocolate Ganache sandwiched between two of the meringues. So very tempted to make these for Christmas Eve . . .
SUPER cute. And I’m a big fan of food coloring paste. It’s actually on my Christmas list. I don’t feel as weird now seeing it pictured here. I guess others probably do get as much joy as I do from getting extracts and food coloring and a variety of sugars for Christmas.
These are so, so, so pretty……they look like they belong on a Christmas tree.
I just made these meringues the other day using the Martha Stewart recipe but I can assure you mine looked nowhere near as good as yours! :)
I will be making these!!!! They are beautiful, and my gluten-intolerant mother will absolutely love them!
Thank you so much for this!
These are absolutely beautiful looking!
Oh wow, I have exactly 3 egg whites waiting in the fridge to be used up! Nice one!
These are stunning – I love the shape and color! Brilliant!
I’ve been wanting to try these ever since I saw Martha’s. I guess they don’t really look all that difficult to attempt. Did you put chocolate in between two to make a little peppermint meringue sandwich? I though I remembered that’s what M did.
ummm I have to admit that I absolutely know what your talking about. I am a closet after dinner mint hoarder too. I could and have eaten a bag of those damn candies myself and then promptly felt sick . I will be trying these !
Your photos make the meringues look magical. The way you paint the bag and then the red colouring goes on to the meringues so neatly…its really clever!!!
Joy-these cookies are beautiful! I’m always at a loss when I have egg whites left over from making cream pies..what to do with them…now I know! Don’t know how well I’ll do making them-the meringue thing in general usually has me ready to hurl myself off a bridge-I SO stink at it-then the painting of the stripes in the bag? Uh-another first but I’m willing to try! These are just too pretty to resist!!! :)
These are so gorgeous! Oh my – what a great what to brighten up a Christmas cookie platter. Amazing!
I’ve always wanted to try meringues, but I’ve been afraid they won’t turn out. These look and sound too awsome to pass up – I have to try this now. Oh, and those little mints – I know exactly what you’re talking about – and if that is what these taste like, I can’t wait.
Very pretty :)
These are incredibly adorable!! Love them!!
You are so hilarious.
I have my peppermint meringues in the oven as we speak. Um, not cute or pretty like yours, but I didn’t have all the necessary ‘tools’ so I improvised. As long as people don’t know what they are supposed to look like, I’ll be ok :)
Do you have any tips or pointers on the best way to fill a pastry bag with meringue?? Maybe it’s just me…but there was more meringue OUTSIDE the bag than in………
:S
Thanks! Merry Christmas!
Chelsey,
Put your bag in a plastic cup and fold the top of the bag over the lip of the cup. It holds the bag up and open while you fill it. My cake instructor taught me this trick. She called it a “cheater cup”
Chelsey, a trick I always use to fill a piping bag is to roll down the edges over a tall drinking glass so that it stands up on its own. It works like a charm!
My meringues are in the oven now! Since Joy said they’re like those after dinner mints, I ended up making mine super mini! I think there are like… 300 in the oven. Hahaha…
Joy, I became obsessed with meringues last spring and I love what you’ve done here – these are really really beautiful. Cheers!
Love the colours..look so pretty!
These just look fantastic! Wish I had seen them earlier!
WOW! Those are fantastic! I wish I’d seen these before Christmas – I LOVE peppermint and tried making peppermint meringues, but they deflated. Thanks for giving me the chance to try again…
I just found your site yesterday and decided to try these (I’m a bit out of season… but who doesn’t love holiday cookies?) and they’re so good! And your blog is wonderful too =)
Hi Joy!
I adore your blog! This is the first recipe of yours that I’m trying. They just finished baking. Question – are they supposed to be chewy on the inside or did I do something wrong?
Thanks so much!!!!
Susannah
OMG these look so awesome!!! And yes! I do remember those yummy mints at my fave italian restaurant!!! Thanks for posting this!
looks so christmasy!
Here’s an insider’s tip: My family’s Italian restaurant (Marino’s in NE Minneapolis, MN) had anise mints. They were certainly delicious, chalky, and melted in your mouth…but were an awful gray color. http://www.amazon.com/Anise-Mints-4-lbs-carton/dp/B001682T0Y
{ 17 trackbacks }