Sunday, July 12, 2009

Meringue Drop Cookies

I love these cookies. They are light, low cal, and the basic recipe is nearly fat free. Here's the basics:

3 egg whites
5/8 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup Powdered Sugar (makes for a smoother texture)
1/4 tsp extract of your choice (I like peppermint)

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl. When this mixture turns white and starts to get fluffy, slowly add the sugar. Once all the sugar is combined, add your extract. Beat until you have stiff peaks (lift the beaters, if the peaks stand up you're there). At this point, your basic cookies are ready to go, if you want to add 1 cup of a mixin (like nuts, chocolate chips, small fruit bits, etc.) you would want to gently fold that in now.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (if you don't have parchment paper, just spray with a no calorie cooking spray). Drop the cookies onto the sheet by the teaspoon (or use a piping bag if you want to make them really pretty).

There are 2 cooking methods I've tried. 1) Preheat oven to 375, put cookies in the oven, turn it off. Leave in the oven overnight without opening it. 2) Preheat oven to 200, put cookies in the oven and bake for 1 hour. Turn off oven, open the dor just a crack, then leave overnight. Leaving them overnight allows for them to finish drying without becoming so crispy they break into little bits when you eat them.

There are approximately 400 calories in the whole batch of cookies if made with the original recipe. So the calories each will depend on how many you actually get out if it.

Options: Make these cookies your own. Play with different extracts, sprinkle cocoa powder on top for a nice chocolate treat, crush candy canes and sprinkle on before baking. The sky is the limit!

Healthy and Happy Living

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