Fresh Lemon Meringue Cookies

I often have extra egg whites, and I hate wasting food.  SO, here is a recipe for using up those extra egg whites.  Meringues can be tricky to pull off at first, but it's not impossible.  Just be patient.  Also, I enjoy making these because it's not big and heavy like other desserts.   It's pretty much just egg whites and sugar..... light as air, super crispy and with a bright burst of lemon flavor.  They're great for summer when you want something sweet, but not all the extra calories.

Fresh Lemon Meringue Cookies

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup lemon zest

food coloring (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Line two un-rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.  Prepare your electric mixer.  Take a paper towel and dab it with a little bit of distilled white vinegar.  Rub the paper towel over the inside of the bowl and on the fitted whisk attachment.  Then, with a dry paper towel rub the bowl and the whisk.  This ensures that the bowl and the whisk are super dry and clean.  There cannot be any moisture in this mix of the egg whites worn't work their magic.  And, the magic of the egg whites are essential to this recipe.
2.  Place the egg whites in the mixing bowl, whisk on medium-low speed until the egg whites are frothy,  Add the vanilla, lemon juice, and cream of tartar to the egg whites, continue to whisk until the egg whites form soft peaks.  (This means that the egg whites are billowy, thick, and soft) Turn the mixer up to medium, and add the sugar, one tablespoon at time in 30 second intervals to the egg whites.  When all the sugar has been added, turn the mixer up to high and beat until the egg whites and sugar have reached stiff peaks.  To test for stiff peaks gently put a clean spatula or spoon on top of the egg whites and pull straight up.  If the egg whites form a point (a slight curl is okay), stay straight up, and do not fall, then you've reached stiff peaks.

3.  Gently fold in lemon zest.  Prepare a pastry bag with a fitted tip, wilton size 12 will be fine.* (I do not recommend using a star tip for this cookie because the lemon zest tents to clog it up).  With yellow gel food coloring and a clean paint brush, carefully paint vertical stripes on the inside of the pastry bag, four stripes would be fine.   Add the meringue to the pastry bag, and pipe meringues onto prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 30 minutes.  When the timer is done, just turn off the oven.  You do not need to take the cookies out of the oven.  Just let them sit in the warm oven.  They can stay in the oven for a few hours.  This ensures that the cookies are light and crispy.  If the cookies are taken out of the oven, it's totally fine, but the insides of the cookies will be slightly chewy.  It's your preference!  (Sometimes, I make these cookies at night, and just let them sit overnight in the oven)

*If you do not have a pastry bag, and have no idea what a wilton size 12 tip is, it's no problem!  You can either add yellow food coloring to the mixture and fold it in, so it has a streaky effect, or completely mix it in make it all yellow!.  And either scoop the meringues onto the trays, or put the meringues into a large ziplock bag with a snipped corner.