Cinnamon Meringues

Perfectly cinnamon and pleasantly light, airy, and yummy, these meringues were the perfect capstone to a wonderful baby shower banquet for a dear friend.  I loved the idea of something slightly sweet and palette cleaning as a little favor for all the wonderful friends and family who came to share in Cindy's joy of a new little girl on the way.  Plus, the added bonus was the option to color coordinate them into the decor as well as how cutely they matched the polka dot them.  Tied up in individual bags with matching ribbons, I couldn't be more pleased.  Plus they are a tasty little fat free treat--something to not feel guilty about after indulging in these, and these, and these. And definitely these.

But back to the meringues.  I've been following Meagan at Scarletta Bakes for a little while now and I just love her blog.  She uses amazing flavors and weaves a story around her recipes like magic.  It's quite captivating really.  All the more fitting that this recipe comes from a storyteller blogger since Cindy is my storyteller friend.  The beauty of this recipe is it's simple elegance.  It's really amazing that just a handful of easy ingredients can make such a pretty, tasty, and huge quantity of perfect sweet treats.  The small adjustment I made was in the piping--I only have one bag that fits my larges tips, so I used a smaller (standard) piping tip and the end result was a slightly smaller meringue--which was fine for my purposed because I wanted to make sure I had enough to fill 30 favor bags.  This also meant I was able to get away with using 3 baking sheets instead of 4, which worked out because my oven wouldn't have fit 4. Otherwise, I used my regular Penzey's cinnamon since it's a great flavor and I didn't have any cinnamon sticks on hand to toast and grind as Meagan did. Meringues are definitely one of those treats that seem like more work than they actually are, but if this recipe is any indication of their ease, I'll definitely be adding them to my repertoire.



Cinnamon Meringues

Ingredients

6 egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
2/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 
a few drops food coloring of your choice (optional)

Whip egg whites, cream of tarter and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer until frothy (a few minutes).

Continue beating on high speed and gradually add powdered sugar until stiff, glossy peaks form.

For color-tinted meringues, divide the mixture into as may parts as colors you want (I did two bowls--one for green and one for pink).  Add a few drops of food coloring and whip again until desired color is reached.

These is the pink batch--I couldn't get the color to show up.

Transfer mixture to piping bags and pipe onto parchment or Silpat lined baking sheets.  The meringues will be a little smaller than a quarter.  Meringues don't spread, so they can be close together on the sheet (about a half-inch apart).

Bake at 200 degrees F for about 25 minutes or until gently browned and firm to the touch.  Note: It's ok to bake them longer if they aren't firm--at such a low temperature, it will be a while until you burn them.  

Remove pans from oven and place on a rack to cool.  Cool completely before breaking off of parchment or Silpat to serve or store in an airtight container.

Makes about 200 meringues.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

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