Can you believe its December? And you know what that means, don’t you? Yep, cookie making season is officially here!
I love baking cookies, especially Christmas cookies. There are so many different kinds, flavors, textures…I think you get my hint. There are just so darn many Christmas cookies to make that one month is not enough time to bake them all in!
And in my…umm, let’s just say older years, there are still some I’ve never made before. Yes, it’s true, I have not baked all of the different kinds of Christmas cookies out there. I know, I can’t believe it myself.
So far this year, I’ve made two different kinds of Christmas cookies that I’ve never attempted to bake before. One being these meringue cookies I'm sharing with you today and the other is the Christmas cookies I made for the cookie swap, that I will be sharing with you on December 15th.
I don't know why I've never made these cookies before. After all, they're light, airy, and fat free. Yes, fat free since their main ingredients are egg whites and sugar. That means gluten-free too!
Even though these were a little messy for me to make (anything that involves piping stuff is messy for me), the end result are these beautiful snowy white meringue cookies sprinkled with silver and gold with a kiss of peppermint flavoring. The perfect cookie for any Holiday party.
I kept singing the Christmas song from Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, "Silver and Gold" while I was making these cookies. You too can listen to it right here ~
Now that you’re in the mood, here’s the recipe for my Peppermint Meringue Cookies so you can enjoy them at your home too, while singing "Silver and Gold" {smile}.
Peppermint Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
2 pinches Cream of Tartar
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
Gold decorating cupcake gems (found in the baking aisle)
Silver decorating cupcake gems
Directions
Preheat oven to 195F degrees.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Making sure to fit the parchment paper on the cookie sheet by cutting off any overhang. I found it easier to crinkle the parchment paper when placing it on the cookie sheet so it stays in place and won’t roll everywhere with its natural shape from being on the tube. Set aside.
Fill a large saucepan halfway with water. Heat until boiling. Turn down heat after it begins to boil.
In a large metal mixing bowl, combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar. Using a small hand whisk, whisk together for about 10 seconds, until all ingredients are combined.
Place over heated water and whisk until sugar dissolves. This should only take a couple minutes. Remove from heated water.
Using either a hand or a stand mixer, whip mixture on High speed until peaks start to form.
Add in vanilla and peppermint extract. Continue to whip until stiff peaks start to form. You can tell this when you remove the wire whip away from the mixture and it remains peaked.
Now it’s time to make the cookies. Using a pastry bag and an open star tip, carefully make round circles going wide then narrowing as they go up in height. Making about 2 inches in height and placing 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Or you can make any design you wish.
Sprinkle with your gold and silver decorating cupcake gems {Feel free to sing during this time}.
Bake for 90–120 minutes. That’s one hour and a half to two hours baking time. You don’t want them to brown, so keep an eye on them after 90 minutes if they need to cook a little longer. They should have a crispy outer shell when tapped.
After meringues have baked, leave them in the oven, turn off the heat, prop the oven door open about 3 inches to let the cookies cool and crisp up a little more. Leave like this for 2 hours.
After 2 hours, remove cookies from the oven.
To remove the cookies from the parchment paper, either gently twist off the cookies or gently pull parchment paper away from the cookies. They should come off clean.
There might be a little sticky going on and that’s where the gentle pulling of the parchment paper away from the cookie works best. Be careful not to squish the cookies between your fingers while trying to remove them from the parchment paper.
Store in an airtight container for up to one month. In high humidity climates, they will keep for 2-3 weeks in storage.
*Helpful Hints*
- I didn’t find this out until after I made my cookies which I made on a rainy day but meringue is best made on a day without humidity. Because the humidity causes soft and muted peaks instead of stiff and sharp peaks.
- You can also add any flavoring or coloring you like to these cookies.
- Keep a damp towel nearby when making these because you will get it on your hands. Unless, of course, you’re a professional, but for those like me, it will get on your hands {smile}.
Disclaimer - "Silver and Gold" is from the classic 1964 CBS Special "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", sung by Burl Ives. Video uploaded from YouTube.*
All content and images (excluding video "Silver and Gold")* are property of Sweet and Spicy Monkey. Please do not reprint this content without my permission. If you wish to include this recipe on your site, please re-write in your own words and use your own photographs and link back to this post for original recipe.
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