Peppermint Meringues

Hello! I'm curled up comfortably on the couch watching The Bachelor on demand, slowly but surely adding paragraphs to my essay. The fire alarm went off twice - the first time for just under 10 minutes, and then a second time only 10 minutes later for no joke at least 15 minutes. It's also the most annoying sound in the world. Worse than this. I know, it's almost blashphemous to contest it but honestly it is awful.

Anyway, I was inspired to post a recipe, courtesy of MarthStewart.com, for meringues. 2 of my nursing friends and I were discussing healthy recipes for cookies, etc today and I brought up meringues. Upon questioning whether you could add flavour to them I decided to look up a proper recipe for peppermint meringues. I may try to make orange flavoured ones also.

Meringues are fairly easy to make, they just take patience as they have to bake for about 2 hours. They are fat free (sugar and egg whites) and if you want to cut back on the sugar you can try using splenda (the kind that works for baking). I haven't tried this out but I may experiment with Splenda this weekend. If you use Splenda there'd be virtually no calories. Success!

Peppermint Meringues

(I omitted the chocolate filling shown in the picture. If you want to add it to your meringue recipe go here to find out how)

To make the peppermint meringue you will need:

• 3 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• Red gel-paste food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper; secure corners with masking tape. Fit a pastry bag with a small open-star tip (such as Ateco #22). Set aside.
2. Make meringues: Put egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir gently until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Transfer bowl to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Mix in peppermint extract.
4. Using a new small paintbrush, paint 2 or 3 stripes of red food coloring inside the pastry bag. Fill bag with 1 to 2 cups meringue. Pipe small (3/4-inch-high) star shapes onto prepared baking sheets. Refill bag as necessary, adding food coloring each time.
5. Bake cookies until crisp but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

And P.S. are we all aware of this newest gadget from Apple? The iPad? I want. Why? No good reason, just looks super cool.

Off to try and get some more of that essay done...I'll be back on Friday!