Baking: The Melting Magic of Meringues

I remember my first exposure to meringue cookies as a young girl.  It was at Shaffer House Bakery in Providence, Utah with my friend and her grandparents.  Her grandparents bought me a blue meringue cookie that melted magically on my tongue.  I've been fascinated ever since!
So when I have the yen, or just a few leftover egg whites in the fridge, I make meringues.
Here's the basic recipe:
3 eggwhites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
dash salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar
Beat the eggwhites, salt, vanilla and cream of tartar on a mixer with a whip/whisk type attachment at high speed.  When soft peaks start to form, gradually add the sugar one tablespoon at a time.  Keep beating until glossy and fairly stiff.  Using a pastry bag and large start tip, pipe in small circular cones onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  Bake at 300 degrees F for 25 minutes, turn off the oven and let the cookies cool inside the cooling oven for another 20-30 minutes.  Remove and cool cookies completely.  Makes 30 cookies.

Variations: Add in some finely chopped bittersweet chocolate, and orange extract instead of the vanilla; or try using coconut extract instead of vanilla. 
Depending on the shape, they can become the dish-like shell of pavlovas (a fruit and whipped cream filled meringue dessert)

My daughter and her friend were anxious to help me pipe out the meringues, so I decided to pull out the gel frosting tubes I had on hand and color the meringues (I'd seen something similar in a Martha Stewart magazine).

Squeeze the gel frosting up the sides of the pastry bag

Then spoon glossy egg white mixture into the bag.

Pipe onto prepared cookie sheets.

Kids love helping with this part!

Bake at 300 for 25 mintues, then let cool in the oven for another 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy!  Meringues are such a whimsical cookie that crazy colors just seem to work.