I Wanna Bake’s “Christmas Cookies in July” series continues this week with some delightful root beer float meringue cookies. I adapted the recipe from Joy of Cooking’s meringue kisses recipe to better fit my summer theme, and these did not disappoint. The cookies dissolve slowly on your tongue, leaving you with the fizzy, yet creamy, feeling of a root beer float before all the ice cream has melted.
It seems I have succeeded where Willy Wonka failed (dessert). Granted, these are cookies, not gum, and root beer floats, not blueberry pie, but I’m going to declare myself the winner here anyway. Hopefully when you try them you’ll agree with me.
You will need the following ingredients For Root Beer Float Meringue Cookies
For the cookies:
- 3 large egg whites
- 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1/8 tsp. root beer flavoring (this made fairly strong cookies, so you might want to decrease the amount of flavoring you use)
*The original recipe called for 3/4 cup of sugar, but I found I needed to add more to make mine come together. My egg whites might have been larger than usual, so be sure to add the sugar gradually in case you don’t need the full 1 1/4 cup.
For baking ambiance:
In sticking with the Willy Wonka theme, I suggest listening to the soundtrack to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It’ll inspire your confectionery adventure and have you dancing in the kitchen (at least that’s what it does for me). You can find the whole thing fairly easily on Youtube.
Pop an everlasting gobstopper in your mouth and preheat your oven to 225°F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or other large bowl, combine the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat them on low speed until the egg whites are frothy.
Increase the mixer’s speed to high and beat until the egg whites hold soft peaks. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get a good picture of this stage. The egg whites will barely hold their shape while being mixed and will look like a very fine, thick foam (if that makes any sense).
While still beating, add in the sugar 1/4 cup at a time. Reduce the speed of your mixer to low and stir in the root beer flavoring until it is fully-incorporated. It’s brown, so it’s easy to see when it’s mixed in. You may need to scrape your beater and the sides of the bowl to make sure it’s all fully mixed in. Now increase the speed to high and beat the meringue until it is glossy and holds very stiff peaks (it needs to be able to hold the shapes you pipe). The consistency is similar to marshmallow fluff.
Load the meringue into a piping bag or large resealable plastic bag fitted with a large, open star piping tip (or just snip a 1/2″ opening in the corner of the bag). Pipe the meringue into 1 1/4″ stars onto the cookie sheets. They can be fairly close together because they won’t grow much.
Bake the meringue cookies for 45 minutes. The original recipe said to rotate the cookie sheets halfway through the baking time, but mine cracked and this may be why. If you are worried about cracked cookies, just leave them to bake for 45 minutes undisturbed. When the time is up, DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN! Turn off the heat and let the cookies cool completely, at least half an hour. If they cool too quickly, they will crack.
The cracks aren’t too serious, but they are cracks all the same.
Once the cookies have cooled, peel them off the parchment paper or remove them from the cookie sheets with a thin spatula and enjoy their fizzy, melty sensat
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Root Beer Float Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 225°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat on low speed until the egg whites are frothy
- Increase speed to high and beat until the egg whites hold soft peaks — they will barely hold their shape and look like a very fine thick foam
- With the mixer still running on high, add the sugar ¼ cup at a time. Add gradually and stop when the meringue comes together — you may not need the full 1¼ cups depending on the size of your egg whites
- Reduce speed to low and stir in the root beer flavoring until fully incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl and beater as needed. Increase speed back to high and beat until the meringue is glossy and holds very stiff peaks — the consistency should resemble marshmallow fluff
- Load the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large open star tip, or snip a ½ inch opening in the corner of a large zip-lock bag. Pipe into 1¼ inch stars onto the prepared cookie sheets. They can be placed fairly close together as they will not spread much
- Bake for 45 minutes undisturbed. Do not rotate the pans during baking — rotating may cause cracking
- When the time is up, do NOT open the oven. Turn off the heat and leave the cookies inside to cool completely for at least 30 minutes. Opening the oven too soon causes rapid temperature change which will crack the cookies
- Once fully cooled, peel cookies off the parchment paper or remove with a thin spatula