Like snowflakes, no two of these meringue hearts are alike. You don’t need any special equipment—just a couple of spoons—to create their whimsical swooping shapes. Tint with blushing shades of red, pink, and purple paste food coloring, and vary the flavor with raspberry, strawberry, and even cake batter extracts.
Ingredients
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1 cup sugar
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3/4 teaspoon cornstarch
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1/8 teaspoon baking powder
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4 large egg whites, at room temperature
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1 tsp cream of tartar
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1/2 to 3/4 tsp desired flavor extract, such as raspberry, strawberry, or cake batter
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Gel food coloring in pink, red, or purple
Directions
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Preheat oven to 225°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place oven racks in top and lower thirds of the oven.
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In a medium bowl combine sugar, cornstarch, and baking powder. In a large bowl beat egg whites and cream of tartar with a mixer on medium until soft peaks form (tips curl). Increase mixer to high speed, adding sugar mixture, 1 Tbsp. at a time, over a 2 minute period, until mixture still forms soft peaks.
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Reduce mixer speed to medium. Beat in the extract to combine. Using a thin wooden skewer, add two to three stripes of food coloring to the egg white mixture at different places. Run a metal spatula through the food coloring 1 to 2 times to create streaks. (The color will continue to incorporate as you portion out the meringues.)
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For each heart, spoon 2 to 3 Tbsp. of the meringue mixture on a prepared baking sheet into two ovals that overlap slightly. Dip a spoon in water and bring ovals together, pulling to form the tip of the heart. Repeat with the remaining meringue mixture, spacing hearts 2 inches apart.
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Bake until crisp and dry, 1 1/2 hours, rotating the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through baking. Turn oven off. Let stand 30 minutes in oven. Remove and cool on wire racks.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
| 72 | Calories |
| 0g | Fat |
| 17g | Carbs |
| 1g | Protein |
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings Per Recipe 12 | |
| Calories 71.8 | |
| % Daily Value * | |
| Total Fat 0g | 0% |
| Saturated Fat 0g | 0% |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 23.4mg | 1% |
| Total Carbohydrate 17g | 6% |
| Dietary Fiber 0g | 0% |
| Total Sugars 16.7g | |
| Protein 1.2g | 2% |
| Vitamin D 0mcg | 0% |
| Vitamin C 0mg | 0% |
| Calcium 3.7mg | 0% |
| Iron 0mg | 0% |
| Potassium 29mg | 1% |
| Fatty acids, total trans 0g | |
| Vitamin D 0IU | |
| Alanine 0.1g | |
| Arginine 0.1g | |
| Ash 0.1g | |
| Aspartic acid 0.1g | |
| Caffeine 0mg | |
| Carotene, alpha 0mcg | |
| Choline, total 0.1mg | |
| Copper, Cu 0mg | |
| Cystine 0g | |
| Energy 300kJ | |
| Fluoride, F 0.3mcg | |
| Folate, total 0.4mcg | |
| Glutamic acid 0.2g | |
| Glycine 0g | |
| Histidine 0g | |
| Isoleucine 0.1g | |
| Leucine 0.1g | |
| Lysine 0.1g | |
| Methionine 0g | |
| Magnesium, Mg 1.3mg | |
| Manganese, Mn 0mg | |
| Niacin 0mg | |
| Phosphorus, P 2.7mg | |
| Pantothenic acid 0mg | |
| Phenylalanine 0.1g | |
| Proline 0g | |
| Retinol 0mcg | |
| Selenium, Se 2.3mcg | |
| Serine 0.1g | |
| Theobromine 0mg | |
| Threonine 0g | |
| Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) 0mg | |
| Tryptophan 0g | |
| Tyrosine 0.1g | |
| Valine 0.1g | |
| Vitamin A, IU 0IU | |
| Vitamin A, RAE 0mcg | |
| Vitamin B-12 0mcg | |
| Vitamin B-6 0mg | |
| Vitamin K (phylloquinone) 0mcg | |
| Water 10.2g | |
| Zinc, Zn 0mg | |
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
