I’m tired. I’ve heard tales of people who regularly experience life on only 5 hours of sleep or less, but let me tell you, I am not one of those.
Another fun fact about me: I can be kind of unpleasant to be around when I’m tired. Or so I hear.
I dragged my tired butt out of bed, fighting the inevitable massive headache that would be coming soon, and announced my plans for the day. “I’m making cookies.” There’s nothing like sweets to brighten a crummy day, right? I had been dreaming of these orange cream meringues, and I really wanted a peppermint version.
The first thing I did was clean up the kitchen a bit, and pulled out a fresh dishtowel. When I opened the drawer of kitchen linens, I found a hand towel. Apparently my children will never understand the difference between a towel that is meant for the kitchen and one that is meant for the bathroom. This reminded me of the last time I did laundry, and found green shirts in the red load, and white socks in the black load. Which memory did not help my mood.
I pulled out some eggs and proceeded to get started on my meringues.
Step one is to put 3 egg whites in a glass bowl. What did I do? I put a whole egg in a bowl. Then I started talking to myself. “What am I doing?!” Luckily, the yolk was still intact, and I could easily scoop it out. I then separated a second egg, and put the white in the bowl. Then? I cracked a third egg and put the WHOLE THING in the bowl.
As if I hadn’t just done that one minute earlier.
“What is wrong with me?!!!”
Why am I taking pictures of the yolks I’m just going to throw away? Don’t ask me. I’m too tired to know what I’m doing.
Step two is to add sugar to your egg whites, and put the bowl over some simmering water, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar into the egg whites. This process takes about 3-4 minutes. Somewhere around the 2 minute point, I decided that beating egg whites with a hand mixer for 10 minutes did not sound that fun, and it suddenly became rather urgent that my stand mixer be available. As fast as humanly possible, I washed the few pieces of leftover white frosting from the stand mixer bowl, while the water under my egg whites boiled over all over my stove.
Step three is to add a pinch of salt and a pinch of cream of tartar. My cream of tartar is used so infrequently, it was still sealed for my protection when I tried to use it. After winning the fight with the seal, I tried to add a dash to my egg whites. What came out was decidedly more than a dash.
*extremely long exhale*
I spooned out the excess cream of tartar and starting whipping the eggs. Let me tell you, I was SO glad I had taken the time to wash the stand mixer bowl.
So, long story short, the day was not a complete disaster. Piping the meringues got a little messy, and I had way more than I anticipated. (Two dozen, Lillie? I ended up with about twice that. I realize I probably just piped them substantially smaller than you, but I’m going to tell people that my egg whites beat up fluffier than yours.) But the meringues were really yummy, and the Diet Dr. Pepper + ibuprofen combination kept the impending headache doom at bay, and my son made us listen to some Weird Al songs, which helped my mood quite a bit.
(Can’t read my, can’t read my, no you can’t read my Polka face!)
And frankly, peppermint helps just about everything.
- 3 egg whites
- ¾ cup sugar
- pinch salt
- pinch cream of tartar
- ½ tsp. peppermint extract
- 1 drop red food coloring (optional)
- Place egg whites and sugar in a heat proof glass bowl.
- Place bowl over simmering water on the stove, and heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. (about 3-4 minutes) Remove from heat.
- Add salt and cream of tartar. Beat egg mixture on high until it forms glossy peaks, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add extract and food coloring, and mix to combine.
- Using piping bag, pipe meringue into small swirls on the baking sheet. Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes.
If you enjoy this recipe, you might also enjoy:
Easter Meringues from Chocolate Chocolate and More
Mothers Day Meringues from Zoe Bakes
Peppermint Meltaways from Jen’s Favorite Cookies
This recipe linked up at:
Miz Helen’s; Something Swanky;
Oh, I feel for you! Not one of your most pleasant baking experiences, but you came through with flying colors. Every time I separate eggs and don’t need the yolks, I’m always so careful to put them in a little container and freeze them. I’m equally careful to throw them out about a year later when I find them stuck way in the back of the freezer, and I have no idea how long they’ve been there, or how many yolks the container contains. I just just throw them out to begin with and make life easier. Anyway, I agree with you on peppermint – a thoroughly wonderful flavor. Very entertaining post – thank you.
Oh dear! At least you were able to scoop out the eggs easily. If it had of been me, I would have done something stupid like lightly beat them then realise, lol. But I agree, I can’t function on even 8 hours of sleep. I’m one of those people that needs more (although that might be my condition or meds for said conditioin).
The meringues still look beautiful and I bet they tasted heavenly. I can imagine the peppermint flavour to be so refreshing too.
All of your photos are seriously gorgeous! I am a new follower.
Hi Jen,
Your Meringues are just perfect and a beautiful presentation. Sure wish I had one right now. Hope you are having a great summer week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
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