Rainbow Tie-dye Cherry Meringue Cookies

I LOVE baking and meringue cookies are one of the first things I made without a box. I decided to make rainbow tie-dye because the last batch I made was 3 colors tie-dye, and they looked really cool when they were done.

WARNING: Makes about 150 meringues! I didn't realize it would make sooooo many! :)

For this recipe you will need:

• 6 large eggs
• 4 tsp imitation cherry extract
• red, blue, and yellow gel food coloring (at the least)
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

Equipment-wise you will need:

• oven
• stand mixer with whisk attachment
• 2 plastic bags (or piping bags if you have them)
• a lot of pans
• parchment paper (tinfoil or nonstick spray work fine, too) (I used nonstick spray)
• 10 bowls
• a spoon (or a lot of spoons)
• a spatula (not necessary but helpful)

This step is short, I promise. Turn the oven on to 250 degrees Fahrenheit, which is approximately 121 degrees Celsius. Then line as many baking sheets as you have (about 6) with parchment paper or tinfoil, or spray them with nonstick spray. Then set them aside.

In this step, you will separate the eggs. Big surprise, right? For those who know how to separate egg whites, do it and move on. For those who don't, I will now tell you.

1. Place two bowls in front of you
2. Crack on egg into one of the bowls
3. Use either your hands or a spoon to pick up the egg yolk, and get all the egg yolk, or as much as possible, off of the yolk and into the bowl*
4. Throw away the yolk, or save it for another project
5. Put the egg whites in the other bowl
6. Wash you hands**
7. Repeat until all 6 eggs are separated

* The reason that I separate the eggs into two bowls is that if one of the yolks breaks, it only ruins one white, not all of them. If this happens, throw the whole thing away, wash the bowl and your hands well, and get another egg.

** Wash your hands after each egg because if any fat gets in the yolk, the meringues will be ruined.

Put your egg whites in the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the salt and cherry extract. Mix with whisk attachment on high speed until foamy. Then start adding the sugar while the mixer is still on high. Add one tablespoon at a time, and do not add the next tablespoon until the one before is completely mixed in. Once all the sugar is added, keep beating on high until the mixture has stiff, glossy peaks. The two ways to know that you have stiff peaks is if the mixture stands straight up when something is taken out of it, or if the bowl is upside down and the mixture doesn't fall out. I don't recommend the second one if you are not completely sure, though, because if it does fall out, you have to make the meringue again.

Now you can separate the meringue batter into 8 bowls equally. Use gel food coloring to your liking to make the colors of the rainbow. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Then leave one bowl white.

Put one spoonful of red meringue in one of the bags. Then put a spoonful of orange. Then one of yellow, and green, and blue, and indigo, and violet. Then do it again until all the colored meringue is gone. Then cut a small hole in the corner of the bag, and pipe about 1 1/2-2 inch cookies onto the pans. Then put the white meringue into another bag, and pipe those.

Bake for 35 minutes, and then WITHOUT OPENING THE OVEN DOOR, turn the oven off and let the meringues sit for at least an hour. However, letting them sit overnight is best. If you open the door, they will be ruined! Don't do that.

Store in an airtight container or the freezer.

Or just eat them. :)

ENJOY!

Please vote for me in the rainbow contest!