Suspiros (Latin American Meringue Cookies)

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 2 hrs

Total: 2 hrs 15 mins

Servings: 25 servings

Once in a while, we make something that calls for lots of egg yolks (such as Brazilian quinin or chocolate cream pie), and we end up with a bunch of extra egg whites. These easy meringue cookies are a great solution to that problem. Crispy and light, they melt in your mouth with a little «sigh» of sweetness (hence their name suspiro, or sigh).

These cookies are flavored with vanilla, but you can add other flavorings (like in peppermint suspiros), or fold in extras like ground nuts or mini chocolate chips. You can also use food coloring to give them pretty pastel colors, like French macaron cookies. This is also an excellent recipe to bake in toy ovens such as the Easy Bake Oven since meringues cook best at low temperatures.

These cookies store well in an airtight container, but they will quickly become chewy and lose their crispness in a humid environment.

Ingredients

• 5 large egg whites

• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

• Pinch kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon food coloring, optional

• Candy sprinkles, optional

Steps to Make It

1. Gather the ingredients.

   

2. Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a standing mixer. The bowl should be very clean, with no residual oil or fat, which could inhibit the formation of the meringue.

   

3. Beat egg whites (using whisk attachment) until egg whites form soft peaks.

   

4. Gradually add granulated sugar, while still beating egg whites. Continue to beat egg whites until they have increased in volume and are forming stiff peaks.

   

5. Sift powdered sugar together with salt.

   

6. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar and salt to egg whites, continuing to beat, until well mixed.

   

7. Gently fold vanilla into meringue.

   

8. Preheat oven to 200 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

   

9. Tint meringue with several drops of food coloring, if desired. Fit a piping bag with a large star tip, and fill bag with meringue.

   

10. Pipe meringue into small swirls onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart. Top cookies with a few sprinkles, if desired.

    

11. Place cookies in oven and bake for 60 to 90 minutes, checking after an hour to see if cookies feel dry and crispy. Once cookies feel firm and crisp, turn off oven and let cookies cool while further drying out in oven for at least an hour or two, or overnight.

    

12. Serve cookies immediately or store them in an airtight container. Cookies will not stay crispy in a humid environment.