Pink Peppermint Princess Meringues

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Over the weekend we had family in town so I did a lot of cooking, and one of the things I made was a banana cream pie. Well, it takes 4 eggs yolks but no whites, so not wanting to waste the whites, I saved them, not sure what I was going to make. Then it came to me! Meringues! But not just ANY meringues will do in a house with two small princesses! These had to be PINK meringues. And not just PINK meringues, but PINK PEPPERMINT meringues! So, without further ado, here is my recipe for Pink Peppermint Princess Meringues

 

Pink Peppermint Princess Meringues

4 egg whites, at room temperature

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

red food coloring, optional

Preheat your oven to 225F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, or with foil sprayed with non-stick spray. In the bowl of a stand mixer, begin to whip the egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar and whip until soft peaks form (should form  peak that curls down when lifted with a spatula). Add the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until all incorporated. Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.  This will take several (10 or so) minutes but don't give up! When stiff peaks form, add extract and food color and whip until just incorporated. If you want "fancy" cookies, get out a piping bag with a star tip and pipe cookies onto cookie sheets, leaving about 1.5" between each (I got about 20 on a sheet). Or, you can do what I did and put the mixture into a disposable plastic bag, snip off one corner and squeeze it from there. Less mess but not as "fancy". Place both sheets (racks at 1/3  from top and 1/3 from bottom) into the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Then, turn off the oven and allow cookies to stay in and cool for about an hour or until completely cool. Store in an airtight container separated with wax (or parchment) paper. If you want to get REALLY fancy, you can dip the bottoms of these cookies into melted chocolate or dip the tops in and sprinkle with crushed peppermints!