Holiday Cookies (2/8) -- Meringue Sandwich Cookies

     When I found this recipe I had super high hopes that I could create the tree in the picture on the site. I hurried over to William Sonoma and bought a pastry bag so I could pipe the dough to all be the same size. I also got this idea that it would be neat if the cookies were green with green frosting in the middle. I read online that when you put food coloring in the meringue dough it bakes out so you can't tell its colored. To make these the green color I was after I chopped quite a few fresh green mint leaves in the food processor thinking that they would add green specks to my cookies. Turns out that when you bake mint leaves they turn brown and they don't stay on the surface. So after baking the 150 or so cookies, and making the 70-75 or so sandwiches I got lazy and didn't end up making the tree, so it didn't matter that they weren't green anyway. All of the lucky people who received these as part of their holiday plates seemed to like them so I figure it was a success of sorts.

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 recipe pink icing
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp softened butter
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 or 2 drops red food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites, vanilla, cream of tartar, and mint leaves with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form (tips curl).
3. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). 
4. Spoon meringue into a large pastry bag fitted with a large star tip.
5. Pipe 1-inch-diameter mounds 1 inch apart onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. (makes about 140 cookies)
6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until stars are firm and bottoms are very lightly browned.
7. Transfer to racks; let cool completely before making the sandwiches.
8. In a small bowl, stir together powdered sugar, softened butter, and vanilla. 
9. Add 1 or 2 drops red food coloring to tint a light pink color. 
10. Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons milk until icing is smooth and of spreading consistency.
11. Spread bottoms of half the meringue stars with about 1 teaspoon Pink Icing.
12. Gently press the bottoms of the other half of the meringue stars into icing to form sandwiches.
13. Makes 70 meringue sandwiches, more or less depending on how large/small you piped them.