Today is officially the last day of November, Thanksgiving is behind us, so let Christmas begin! Personally, I’ve already brought up all of the Christmas decorations from the basement and set up the tree, despite my husband’s protests that it’s still too early (today’s the first day of advent, so even by Norwegian standards, I’m allowed!). And of course I couldn’t let another holiday come and go without throwing in some holiday-themed meringues! With just a hint of mint and a festive swirl of color, these meringues are the perfect treat to kick off your Christmas festivities!
Peppermint Meringue Swirls
Makes about 40 one inch meringues
What you’ll need:
4 egg white
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. peppermint extract
Red and green food gel coloring
I feel like I should preface this recipe with the fact that it is SUPER easy to make (and I mean like super supereasy), but it will take about 4-6 hours of baking at a very low temperature. So although it’s the perfect easy dessert to whip up the day before, it’s not great if you need something in an hour. To make the meringues, whisk your egg whites and granulated sugar together in a bowl over a pot of boiling water until the sugar dissolves. You can test this by sticking a finger in and seeing if you can still feel granules. Once all of the granules have dissolved, remove your bowl from the pot of boiling water and beat it on high until stiff peaks form (you’ll want to add your peppermint extract right before it reaches stiff peaks).
Evenly divide your meringue between two bowls. Gently fold your red food coloring into one, and leave the other white.
To assemble your piping bag, lay out a piece of cling wrap. Using a toothpick, run a thin line of green food coloring down the center. Cover the green food coloring with half of your white meringue. Spoon your red meringue onto either side of the white, and up the sides until it just reaches the top and slightly overlaps. Spoon the other half of the white meringue on top, and run another thin line of green food coloring down the center.
Gently fold each side of your cling wrap up and over the meringue, twisting the ends. Drop the whole thing into your piping back, and pipe your meringues out onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet (I used a star tip).
Bake your meringues for 4-6 hours at 200*F (95*C), or until the meringues can easily be peeled away from the parchment paper.
Happy baking!
Recipe adapted from Miette
These are the freshest, most festive little treats yet! Love that little stripe of green 🙂
Thank you! 😀
Yhese look fabulous! How do you store these? What is their “shelf” life?
The shelf life of meringues is kind of a tricky one, mostly because it depends on 1. how humid of a climate you live in and 2. how air-tight of an environment you can get them in. I often bag mine and then put them in an air-tight container, which helps them last about 3-4 days (maaaaybe 5 if I’m lucky and it’s not particularly humid). I’ve found that if I leave them out, they start getting soft around 1 1/2-2 days, and on any given day, we have about 60% humidity where I live. Hope that helps! 🙂
Very much so! Thank you.
These are so so cute! Thank you for linking up at The Wednesday Round Up with us again! I can’t wait to see what you share next week!
Thanks for hosting each week! 🙂
How do you transfer the meringue wrapped in the cling wrap to the piping bag? Do you unwrap one end?
I keep it all wrapped up, and once I have it in the piping bag, I snip the end with a pair of scissors. 🙂
That’s a great time for combining two different coloured meringues, they look very festive indeed. Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great day!! Laura@Baking in Pyjamas
Thanks so much for hosting each week! 🙂
They look so cool! Perfect for the holidays 😀 Thank you for sharing those step by step pictures!
I’m so glad you like them! 🙂
Almost too pretty to eat!! Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again this week!
These look fabulous! Perfect for the holidays! I’m featuring them at this week’s link party! http://www.thelifeofjenniferdawn.com/2014/12/a-little-bird-told-me-link-party-120.html
Thanks so much for the sweet feature! 🙂
Perfect holiday treat! These are being featured tonight on Best of the Weekend!
Thanks so much for the sweet feature! 🙂
Such beautiful, delicious looking works of art!
Aww, thank you! 😀