Makes about 3 dozen cookies
THESE SIMPLE, PALE GREEN, COULDN’T-BE-EASIER MERINGUES WERE A STAPLE of our family Christmas cookie menu in my formative sweets-eating years. With my age in the single digits, I recall craving their minty sweetness and crisp, sugary shell that instantly melted on my tongue. At some point, probably due to busyness and discovering new recipes to make and who knows what, everyone just stopped making them. In the early stages of making this book, I found the recipe tucked into Gramma’s recipe folder in one of my aunt’s junior-high-aged handwriting, recorded in a home ec class from long ago, and I wondered whether they would really be as good as I remembered.
Any hesitation about them was completely dashed when my husband and children sampled one, and then another and another, and then the compliments finally came in the form of shouted interrogations of why it took me so long to make them. Consider these humble gems the dark horse of holiday treats. The ingredient list is short, prep time is laughable, and then you actually just forget about them as they dry out in a turned-off oven overnight. What more could you possibly want in this life?
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1½ cups/300 g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon pure peppermint extract
Green food coloring
6 ounces/170 g bittersweet chocolate (70% to 72% cacao), finely chopped*
Position racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat it to 350°F/180°C. Line two 12 × 17-inch/30 × 43 cm baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat on medium-high speed until the whites reach soft peaks, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running, slowly add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. When all the sugar has been added, beat until the meringue reaches stiff peaks. Beat in the vanilla, peppermint extract, and a few drops of green food coloring to reach a soft, mint green color, like mint chocolate chip ice cream. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chopped chocolate.
Using 2 spoons, shape the meringue into small mounds, about 1½ tablespoons/22.7 ml each. Space the cookies about 1½ inches/3.8 cm apart on the prepared baking sheets (they won’t spread much).
When all the batter has been portioned, turn off the oven. Place the baking sheets in the turned-off oven and close the door. Allow the meringues to dry for at least 4 hours, but overnight is even better. Do not open the oven door at any point during drying. When the meringues are firm to the touch, remove the pans from the oven. Allow the baking sheets to sit at room temperature to let the chocolate bits firm up before storing. The meringues will keep in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to 3 weeks.
*An edgy bittersweet chocolate—with a minimum of 70% and even up to 80% cacao—is the magic here, creating a tweedy network of bitterness within the crisp clouds of sugary meringue.