Description
Delicious and festive meringue cookies shaped like Christmas trees, perfect for holiday celebrations.
Ingredients
Scale
- 6 large egg whites (at room temperature, 200g in total)
- ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1¾ cups + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (400g in total)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or other flavor extract, optional)
- as needed green gel food coloring
- as needed holiday sprinkles
- as needed star sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°F/93°C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the room temperature egg whites and the cream of tartar. Beat with the whisk attachment on low speed until the mixture becomes foamy.
- Increase the speed to high, and add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing for about 15 seconds between each addition.
- Once all the sugar is added, continue beating until the egg whites reach the stiff peaks stage and are thick and shiny.
- Check to see that the meringue is ready by rubbing a small amount of it between your fingers to ensure it’s not gritty. If there is any grit, continue mixing until it’s gone.
- Lift the whisk up out of the bowl to ensure that the peaks are stiff and curved over on themselves.
- Add food coloring and vanilla extract and mix until the color is evenly blended.
- Transfer the meringue to a large piping bag fitted with a medium or large piping tip.
- Pipe the meringue onto the parchment lined sheets, making lines in a back and forth pattern to create triangular trees, each no larger than 3 inches tall.
- Add the sprinkles before baking; I like the stars at the top and then colorful sprinkles for decoration.
- Bake the meringues for 1 hour at 200°F/93°C, then turn off the oven. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR at any point.
- Leave the meringues in the oven and allow the oven to cool down completely before removing the cookies, which can take between 1-3 hours. The cookies should be crisp and dry when finished.
Notes
- Note 1: Cream of tartar helps stabilize the egg whites when whipping.
- These meringues can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 meringue tree
- Calories: 35
- Sugar: 6g
- Sodium: 5mg
- Fat: 0g
- Saturated Fat: 0g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 8g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 1g
- Cholesterol: 0mg