Light and airy peppermint swirls in delicious meringues cookies. ‘Tis the season for all things peppermint, shopping and big wooly mittens, cookies and hot cocoa, and of course, cookie exchanges.
Peppermint Meringues
Peppermint MeringuesI also have a similar recipe using Dark Chocolate and Mint Chip Clouds. More of my favorite holiday treats are Skinny Gingerbread Cookies and No Bake Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookies.
And what can be more symbolic this time of year than peppermint flavored cookies.
The taste of these meringues is somewhere between a cookie and a candy cane. I found out by accident that dissolving one into my morning coffee with a little whipped cream instantly makes me feel like I’m drinking a Starbucks Peppermint Latte. I bet it would be yummy in hot cocoa too!
Meringues are made with egg whites and sugar, so they are naturally low-fat and gluten-free. They can be flavored with different extracts to get different results, and baking them in different temperatures will yield different textures. Some of my favorites varieties include the Chocolate Chip Clouds, Black and White Clouds, and To Die For Coconut Cookies.
How To Make Peppermint Meringues
These beautiful candy cane gems are colored with a paint brush and a little gel paste food coloring (available at Michaels) just before piping to give you the peppermint stripe. Completely optional of course, but it really makes the cookie. Always use metal bowls and beaters and be sure they are squeaky clean before making meringues to guarantee good results.
For more skinny cookie recipes to add to your cookie exchange this holiday season, click here.
Peppermint Meringues
Ingredients
- 3 large large egg whites
- 3/4 cu sugar
- 1 drop peppermint concentrate , or 1/2 tsp pure peppermint extract
- Red gel-paste food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Fit a pastry bag with a small open-star tip (such as Wilton M1). Set aside.
- Place 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.
- Transfer bowl to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Mix in peppermint concentrate.
- 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.
- Bake cookies until crisp but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes.
- Shut the oven off and leave in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks then place in a sealed container.
Lovely! I couldn’t find my M1 tip so mine are little wee guys (so I can eat more lol!). I used a few granules of colored red and green sugars on the tops because I didn’t have disposable bags for the stripes. Playing with the timing while I wait for them to be done. Thanks for the recipe and video! 🤶🏻
Hi- I tried to make these today and no luck. I followed your instructions about stirring the whites and sugar over simmering water, which I’ve never done before when making any sort of meringue type thing. With the whisk attachment on my mixer, I beat them for SO LONG and didn’t get anywhere near stiff peaks. Started over with super clean bowl, fresh eggs, etc… no luck. Any thoughts for me? I was really excited to try the peppermint flavor with the red stripes!
Can I use powdered egg white?
Could this be considered a French Meringue?
Can these be made in advance and store in freezer?
Not sure
I love these so much! I couldn’t get the peaks to form so I added another egg white and some cornstarch. I also used vanilla extract instead of peppermint extract and it still works fine!
Can you use silicone baking mata in place of parchment paper?
These are absolutely wonderful! I will be sharing these at my Weight Watchers meeting.