Peppermint Meringues
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.
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Oh wow, I have exactly 3 egg whites waiting in the fridge to be used up! Nice one!
These are absolutely beautiful looking!
I will be making these!!!! They are beautiful, and my gluten-intolerant mother will absolutely love them!
Thank you so much for this!
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! :)
These are so, so, so pretty……they look like they belong on a Christmas tree.
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.
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 . . .
I love these! They are soooo cute!
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. :)
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…
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 ;)
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!
Beautiful!! I just want one right now!!
So pretty and Christmasy. I love them!
How pretty!