Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1/2 cup of egg whites (or the egg whites of 4 large eggs) at room temperature
- 1 cup of sugar (do not reduce the sugar)
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- (mini chocolate Chips if desired)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 225° F (I put my pizza stone on a bottom rack this keeps the oven warm for the second step of cooking)
- Line two baking sheet with parchment paper
- Separate 4 large egg whites and put in a very clean bowl of an electric mixer. Alternatively, add 1/2 cup of purchased egg whites.
- Turn the mixer on to a slow speed and start mixing using a whisk attachment
- Turn the mixer to a medium speed a the egg whites start looking creamy after about 1 minute.
- Add the cream of tartar & salt
- With the mixer on medium to high (speed 6) slowly add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time. Do not skip adding this slowly or the egg white will not hold up.
- With all the sugar added continue to beat the egg whites for 7 minutes at speed 6 or until they are at a soft peak. The whipped egg whites need to be soft enough to be piped in a piping bag but not so soft that they will not hold up after piping.
- If adding any extras like mini chocolate chips fold in slowly at this point.
- With a large piping bag and a large closed star pastry tip 1/2″ to pipe little start cookies onto the parchment paper. You can also spoon the cookies in a soft pile
- Bake the cookies in a 225° F oven for 1 hour,
- After 1 hour, turn the oven off and open the door slightly and leave the cookies in the oven for 1 additional hour.
- At this point, the cookies are not crunchy enough for our family. Next, I put the cookies in my dehydrator for 3 to 4 hours. You can leave the cookies in the oven longer if you do not have a dehydrator but I have found that the dehydrator works the best.
Notes
- Have the oven on and the cookie sheets prepared before you begin so that you can put the cookies in the oven as soon as the egg whites are a soft peak.
- You can also spoon the cookies in a nice pile if you do not want to pipe the cookies. This works best if you are adding mini chocolate chips or nuts.
- You can also add flavorings, like lemon, almond, mint or coconut.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Dessert
- Method: baking
