Best Appoach to Making Meringue Cookies.....

[Funwithfood]

I'd like to make some peppermint meringue cookies. There seems to be so many different approaches; oven temp, length of cookiing, etc.

What method have you found works the best? TIA

[JEN10]

In the past I have cooked them long and low; 175 for 3 hours, turn off oven and leave the meringues in there for another hour.

[pitterpatter]

Agreed, but after I shut the oven off, I let them hold in the oven overnight. My oven takes a few hours to cool down.

[Funwithfood]

Some recipes call for vinegar, some cream of tartar...?

[JEN10]

I use cream of tarter

[JEN10]

I have also added those really small choc chips and they were so nice with the mint.

[Funwithfood]

I made a concoction that tasted so good I ate the equivalent of 8 cookies in "dough", which I never do! (I did learn however NOT to use 12 egg whites because it's hard to get a stiff peak with that volume...6 seems to be the max. )

[ipsedixit]

Some tips that I've found helpful.

- After you beat the egg whites let them rest for about 30 minutes to an hour so that they are room temp.

- Always use super fine sugar

- Use 1/4 cup of sugar for each egg white (from a large egg)

Also, some people like their meringues to be soft and chewy (if you're an Italian) and to get your cookies that chewy texture add flour to your recipe and reduce the amount of sugar used if you want a soft/chew meringue as opposed to an airy crunchy one.

[thursday]

How much flour would you add to get a little chew?

[ipsedixit]

Let's say you are using 4 eggs whites (from 4 large eggs), then I would use

- 3/4 cup of super fine sugar
- 4 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

[thursday]

Perhaps I'll try this tonight - thanks!