Many Merengues

:) Just some fun pictures of merengue cookies... when I was in Oregon, had many leftover eggwhites from making another dish, so of course made my favorite cookie... in abundance. Besides chocolate and vanilla, tried a new flavor having just bought lemon extract for my dad-- Lemon merengue cookies. That ended up being his and his girlfriend's favorite flavor.

The general recipe (in more scaled-down quantities!) :

Preheat oven to a low 275F or about 140 C
2 large eggwhites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 c sugar (sometimes I push it down to 1/2 c, but then has a harder time getting as stiff when baking, so careful!)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat eggwhites and cream of tartar till stiff peaks, then slooowwwwly add sugar while beating, till very stiff peaks. then add vanilla.

.... THEN...
a) if Vanilla --> leave as is (or add a tad more vanilla flavoring)
b) if Chocolate --> add about 1-2 Tbsp cocoa powder
c) if Lemon --> add about 1 tsp lemon extract
d) if hazelnut --> add ground hazelnuts
... the possibilites are endless!

squirt out the cookies from a pastry tube (or if you don't have one, take a ziplock plastic bag, put the merengue inside, and cut off a small corner to pipe it out).. onto a lined cookie sheet (lined with wax paper or parchment paper)
Bake for about 20-25 (or 30 if you made big dollops), until merengus are crisp (on the vanilla ones, until the peaks just start a golden brown of lightly roasted marshmellows color.... mmm)