Meringues

Somehow I had forgotten how heavenly these little cookies are. The simplest thing to make (provided you have some kind of mixer), and just a few ingredients make a lovely, melt-in-your-mouth delectable treat. Not to mention only about 30 calories a cookie and hardly any fat! At some point I'd like to try them with Splenda to see how well they come out...then you'd REALLY be eating a light dessert.

Ultrafine sugar is best if you have it, simply because it dissolves easiest. Or some meringues are made by heating up the egg whites and sugar together over a double boiler till the sugar dissolves, resolving that issue(and the issue of salmonella). Make sure your bowl is completely clean and dry, and egg whites that are room temperature provide better volume than cold ones.

You can pipe these into little shapes, or pipe them into circles to provide a base for something else (berries, ice cream, etc). I just wanted to eat them, which led me to hastily dropping them onto a cookie sheet with a teaspoon(and that works fine too).

King Arthur Flour's Meringues

• 2 large eggwhites
• 1/2 cup sugar
• pinch of cream of tartar
• dash of salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• extra sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 200F. In a large bowl, combine the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat until soft peaks form, then gradually add the sugar, continuing to beat until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Add the vanilla extract at the end.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, shiny side up. Drop the meringue by large teaspoonfuls onto the paper and sprinkle each meringue with a bit of sugar. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Turn off the heat and leave the meringues in the oven until they're completely cool, 3 hours or more(no worries - they're worth it!). These are good to make in the evening; they can be left in the oven, with the heat turned off, overnight. Store them in an airtight container to keep them crisp.

You can add your favorite flavored extract to mix it up a little - almond would be good. Or, try folding in 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips or shaved chocolate before baking.

For cocoa meringues, sift together 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder. Use 1/4 cup of granulated sugar while beating the egg whites and fold in the cocoa mixture and vanilla extract before baking.