Snow Day {Melty} Meringues

School was cancelled for today just after bedtime last night.

That meant a morning of sleeping in a bit (for me, anyway!), waffles for breakfast, and a day of playing in the snow (for the kids--not me.) 

After we received the long anticipated phone call from school, I was reading my December Good Housekeeping last night while eating popcorn and watching "The Profit," as I am wont to do on a Tuesday night, and I discovered several yummy cookie recipes that actually seemed like a housewife like myself could bake. 

Meringues have always intrigued me, and so I decided to try some for the first time today. I just used the "drop" method on these, instead of a piping bag, since I wasn't sure if I beat the egg whites quite enough.

It turns out they could have used just a bit more, but even though they aren't the perfect shape, they still taste great! Let's call them melted snowballs. 

Guess what else!?!? They have 5 calories each!  Mine probably have 15 calories, since they are bigger than the magazine suggested, but still--I like a low calorie sweet treat! (And plenty of high calorie ones, too . . . .)

Wouldn't these be fun on top of a cup of hot chocolate??

Merry Meringues

Dec. 2015 Good Housekeeping

3 large egg whites

pinch salt

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or almond)

Arrange oven racks in top and bottom thirds of oven. Preheat oven to 225. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl with mixer of medium speed, beat egg whites and salt until foamy. Add cream of tartar; beat on med-high until soft peaks form. Add sugar 1 T at a time. Beat until meringue stands in stiff, glossy peaks. Beat in vanilla and additional flavor, if desired. Pipe or drop onto parchment paper. Beake for 1 hour at 225. Then leave meringues in oven for 1 hour with oven door closed. Remove and cool completely. They can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.