Lemon and Mint Meringues

For the past few days I've been having a craving for something light, but sweet. Meringues popped into my mind and I couldn't stop thinking about them.

On Friday mornings, K has a mommy-and-me preschool thing, so I figured if I got the meringues in the oven before leaving, they would be perfect for eating as a lunch dessert.

K saw that I was getting ready to bake something and ran over to ask if he could help. I wanted to finish these up as quickly as possible, but how could I tell him no?!? I cracked 2 eggs and he got mixing. I added 1/2 cup of sugar and he still mixed away.

Ages ago, I used to make lemon meringues using a lemon juice powder from King Arthur's. It turns out I really wanted lemon meringues. But then I also wanted mint meringues. What's a girl to do? I split the meringue in half and then beat the lemon juice powder into one of the bowls and a few drops of peppermint essence into the other.

To distinguish them, before piping I used a food paint brush and some gel coloring and painted four lines up the side of the bag.

 

I tried really carefully to drop the meringue into the center of the piping bag. I didn't do a great job, but it worked nonetheless. Then I piped away!

 

The recipe I used, not the one I used to make all the time since I couldn't find it, said to bake them at 120C. From memory, this seemed a little high, but I did as was told. After 20 minutes, I checked on them and they had browned a bit. I was so sad!

I turned the heat down to 100C, set the timer for another 45 minutes, and took off with K. By the time we got home, the meringues were light and crispy, as a bonus I don't think they had browned any more.

 

 

After lunch K and I both ate our fair share of meringues. He could have eaten them all. In fact I don't even know how many he ate since I was cleaning up the lunch mess while he was eating. All I know is that there were significantly fewer by the time I got back to the table.

 

 

After naps, a friend of mine came over and K begged for more. I'm such a sucker. He got a few more before I put them away, the spoiled little boy!! ;)