Mini meringues

Confession: these are totally a copycat.  I stole the idea from a bakery I was in a few weeks ago, where, when buying a marzipan challah, which I will never -- despite how badly I'd love to -- be able to bake, I saw a bag of mini tri-colored meringues for sale.  They were Valentine's-y colors and so cute....and had a pretty hefty price tag on them for what they were...so I decided I'd bake some up myself for B and I for Valentine's Day.

I actually decided to make these easy on myself (crazy, I know, right?), and despite deciding to make something in three different colors, I figured I could slowly add the food coloring to the meringues in two steps, to get gradations of color.  Pretty sneaky -- and efficient -- right?

I've made meringues hundreds of times.  They're a go-to Passover recipe in our family.  But I always forget the proportions of sugar to egg white to cream of tartar to salt to vanilla, so I googled it and found this recipe.  If you have a go-to meringue recipe that you use, go ahead and use that one, and just jump on in at the point when I talk about food coloring and piping.

Check out just how mini they are!
These are next to a regular Valentine's conversation heart!!

Tri Colored Valentine's Day Mini Meringues
Adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

3 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp clear or regular vanilla extract (or any other flavor you'd like -- I debated strawberry for my pink ones)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
"dash" of salt
2/3 cups sugar

red food coloring

Directions:

Place egg whites in a small bowl.
Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 250F.
Add vanilla, cream of tartar, egg whites, and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer.
Beat on medium speed until foamy.
Gradually add sugar, 1 Tablespoon at a time.
Beat on high after each addition until sugar is dissolved.
Continue beating until stiff glossy peaks form, about 7 minutes.

Place a small star or decorative piping tip on a piping bag (I used a Wilton 22).
Add about 1/3 of the mixture to the piping bag.
Pipe mini meringues onto the prepared baking sheet, about 1-1.5" apart.

Once done piping the white meringues, add a few drops of red food coloring to the remaining mixture.
Beat until color is incorporated and the desired pink color has been reached.
Remove 1/2 of the mixture and repeat the piping process.

Once done piping the pink meringues, add a few drops of red food coloring to the remaining mixture.
Beat until color is incorporated and keep adding drops until the desired red color has been reached.
Add the remaining red mixture to a piping bag and repeat the piping process.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until firm to the touch (my mini ones took 25 minutes).
Turn off oven (do not open oven door).
Leave meringues in the oven for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on baking sheets.

Once cool, remove meringues from the baking sheet.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

FYI I got 450 -- yup, four hundred and fifty -- mini meringues!!

Holiday treats for my doormen

Every year for as long as I can remember, I have given my doormen a gigantic box of cookies and other treats with their holiday tips.  Since I make a ton of cookies, this year I even offered to give my sister a bunch of cookies for her doormen.

In the past there were some Jam Thumbprints, some Brownie-Oreo-Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, Lemony-Lime Cookies, and Sugar Cookies, just to name a few.

Although they were all hits, I try to mix it up a bit every year.  Some of the treats I made for the first time this month or this year, some I've made in the past, and some I made for the first time just to include in the box of treats. 

This years box o' goodies for my doormen included:

1.  World Peace Cookies
2.  Chocolate Crunch
3.  Mochacchino Meringues
4.  Coconut Marshmallows
5.  Toffee and Chocolate Chip Cookies
6.  Loaded Peanut Butter Chocolate Covered Potato Chip Dulce de Leche Fudge
7.  Peppermint Bark Brownies

Mochacchino meringues

When I think of meringues, the first place my head goes to is the plain meringues with chocolate chips that my grandma makes for Passover.  They're a simple meringue with chocolate chips, dropped onto a baking tray with a spoon, and then baked until light and crispy.  Then, a few years ago, meringues became all the rage, and were available in a ton of flavors - mint, fruity flavors, chocolate, vanilla, just to name a few.  They were all the rage, but I never really fell for them, I can't even fathom a guess as to why.

But then when I was looking for some holiday recipes to make, I came across a recipe for espresso meringues.  And then one for chocolate meringues.  And another for marbled chocolate meringues.  I wanted to make the espresso meringues, but the chocolate ones looked good, too.  So then I came up with my awesome idea -- mochacchino meringues!  Part chocolate, part espresso, pinch of cinnamon, 100% mochacchino-y goodness!

Of course the first time I made them, the recipe fell flat.....literally.  I poured out the entire batch, let the mixer bowl dry completely (moisture is the enemy), and started out again...all I can say is add the sugar mixture V...E...R...Y......S...L...O...W...L...Y...!

Although I loved the way the big meringues looked, I opted to make mine a bit smaller.  The hardest part was adjusting the baking time, since I didn't want them to burn.  Also, I had to work with one of the two recipes, since the proportions they both used were very different.  Below is my adapted mocha meringue recipe.  Feel free to serve them as they are, or dip the bottoms into some semisweet chocolate!

Mochacchino Meringues
Adapted from this recipe for Chocolate Meringues

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups sugar
5 tsp unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch-processed) -- I used Special Dark cocoa powder simply because I didn't have regular Hershey's cocoa
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1/8 tsp cinnamon
4 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp. salt

4 oz. semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, and cinnamon in a bowl.
Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites until frothy.
Add the salt and whisk at high speed until soft peaks form.

Slowly add the sugar/cocoa/espresso/cinnamon mixture, in a steady stream, with the mixer at medium speed.  Add it  V...E...R...Y......S...L...O...W...L...Y...!  I basically did it 1 or 2 tsp at a time.
Increase speed to high and continue whipping until stiff peaks form and the meringue is glossy.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that everything is combined well.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a tip of your choice, place the meringue mixture in the pastry bag and pipe out cookies in whatever design you like.
Be sure to leave a few inches between each meringue cookie.

Bake the cookies for approximately an hour and 10 minutes (I baked mine for about 50 minutes since I made them a little smaller than the original recipe) and then turn the oven off.
Let the cookies cool in the oven for one hour.
Remove from the oven and transfer the meringue cookies to a wire rack to continue cooling.
Leave overnight so that the cookies will dry out completely.

** Full disclosure?  I had 3 trays and my oven only had room for two at a time, so I took them out immediately after but let them cool on the counter.  The last batch I left in the oven afterwards, and think they came out just a little bit crispier.  **

If you want, dip the bottoms of the meringues in the melted chocolate, or drizzle with the melted chocolate (I skipped this step).
The meringues should be stored in an airtight container and will keep for a week or so.