There were a handful of cookies that my family made while growing up, and that was fine with me as I never really had much of a sweet tooth. My grandma made possibly the best oatmeal cookie I have ever had, my Mom, as she made a variety of cookies, made one that really stood out, and my Dad had his favorite which were a glob of chocolate oatmeal. All of these cookies were truly delicious, but one that stood out was my Mom’s meringue cookies. I do not know if it was the texture of these cookies, or the fact that they had these great colors that bled over from the M&M’s. As simple as the ingredients are, there is some technique involved in making a meringue. Basically the goal of making a meringue is beating egg whites until they form tight peaks, then beat superfine sugar into the egg whites until you form your meringue. The process is a very cool one and one that your kids will love as they are pretty amazed to see how the sugar and egg whites color and form into a really great cookie.
Ingredients:
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 1/2 cup of superfine sugar
- 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup of M&Ms
Begin by add your egg whites to your mixer, or to a large bowl if you are using a hand mixer. Beat the egg whites on medium until they reach a stiff peak, roughly a few minutes. You will notice that the egg whites become frothy then begin to form some peaks. Once they are formed, add in the cream of tartar, then gradually add in the superfine sugar. You could use regular granulated sugar, however it will not dissolve as quickly, so using superfine is the way to go. Beat the egg whites and sugar until they form really stiff peaks. You will see. Lightly fold in the M&M’s.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet, and lightly sprinkle flour on top of the baking sheet. Using a spoon, spoon a large tablespoon onto the baking sheet, separating each by about 2 inches.
Place in your oven, and cook for about 45 minutes. You probably notice the very low temperature on this one. The goal by cooking the meringue slowly is to remove any moisture from the meringue. The end result is an extremely light cookie that is crisp on the outside and airy and chocolaty on the inside. These meringue cookies did not last long and were gone within about one hour. A big winner in my house.