Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
3 tsp powdered instant coffee
4 egg whites, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Directions
These cookies - said to have been a favorite with Marie Antoinette -
are 100 percent fat-free, and have about 20 calories per cookie. They
also have no flour, so would be good for someone who isn't able to
eat wheat. They will, however, tie up your oven for 3-4 hours.
Heat oven to 250'F. Use nonstick cookie sheets, or line regular cookie
sheets with parchment paper. In a food processor with a metal blade,
process the sugar and coffee powder until the texture of the sugar
becomes very fine. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and
vanilla extract with an electric mixer at medium speed, until very
frothy. Add cream of tartar, and continue beating at medium speed
until soft peaks form. Increase beater speed to high, and gradually
beat in sugar-coffee mixture. Continue beating until soft peaks form
and mixture has a glossy sheen.
To pipe cookies from pastry bag: Fill pastry bag (or 1-gallon freezer
bag), fitted with Number 6 plain round pastry tube, with meringue.
Hold bag upright over prepared cookie sheets and squeeze out
meringue, leaving pastry tip buried in meringue, until you have piped
out a round about 1 1/2" in diameter. Lift up tip and stop squeezing.
Leave 1" between cookies. Or, drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared
cookie sheet, leaving 2" between cookies.
Bake 1 hour without opening oven door. Turn off oven, and let
meringues dry in oven 2-3 hours more without opening oven door.
(After the first hour, it's okay to peek just once.) At this point
you can leave them in the oven overnight.
Remove the meringues from the cookie sheet with a spatula. Store in
airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen.
Servings: 36 servings
Coffee Meringue Kisses Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beverages; Candy; Coffee; Dessert
The History of Recipes
Historians have traced the existance of recipes way back into ancient history, certainly as far into history as the early Egyptians, and possibly even further. Interesting though that is, in the main part, these old cookbooks were just primitive pictorial, hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for meal preparation.
Fascinatingly, the oldest recipe found, according to experts is a series of tablets in ancient Sumerian which recount the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel exhilarated and blissful. During Roman times around 25BC a man called Apicius created a collection of scripts describing recipes cooked by the Romans. In his works, he describes how the meals were separated into starters, main course and dessert, a style of dining still practiced today. This early Roman chef tells us how the Roman cooks were skilled in the use of many herbs and spices, including a few that are still present in modern kitchens such as bay, fennel and parsley. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years we have a couple of interesting recipe books dating from the 1300s ; a recipe book called `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary entitled `Curye on Inglish`. The titles are somewhat misleading tho`, they are not about the indian food that is popular today, but instead descriptions of the types of meals on the menus of the rich people of the period. In the fifteenth century, knights returning from the crusades brought us many foods, spices and herbs from the East, including spices such as basil and coriander. These new foods and tastes was responsible for an increase in recipe publications, many of which are kept safe in academic collections. Over the following few hundred years, the rich families of Europe competed with each other to lay on the most exotic banquets, and as a result chefs and their recipe collections became highly prized. However, it was during the nineteenth century that haute cuisine and recipe collections became popular. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally well-known Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to collating, verifying, and recording the recipes that were being prepared for the better households. By the arrival of the 20th century, cooking publications are in high demand, due to increased literacy, more spare time and disposable income. Like it or not, the introduction of television brought us cooking programs and the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, permitting everyone to access massive numbers of recipes like the ones you can find on our site. |
We hope you enjoy this Coffee Meringue Kisses recipe.
