Scary Good: A Halloween Treat Recipe

When Newfangled Confections owner Carrie Abbott was 12 years old, she scooted a chair up to the kitchen table during Christmastime, anxiously awaiting her grandmother’s beloved meringues to emerge from the oven in vibrant hues of red and green. “Now, I bring the recipe out earlier in the year because I can’t wait until the holiday season to eat them,” Abbott says. The classic French cookie can even be spun to look like candy corn, as Abbott demonstrates here in making a Halloween delight.
INGREDIENTS
» 4 egg whites, at room temperature
» 1/4 teaspoon salt
» 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
» 1 1/3 cup sugar
» 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
» Yellow and orange food coloring
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
» 3 pastry bags
» 1M or 2A decorating tips
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar with an electric mixer on high until foamy. With the mixer still on high, add sugar slowly over a one-minute time period. Continue to whisk for another 10 minutes until glossy, firm peaks form. Add vanilla and stir.
3. Divide the mixture into three bowls. Tint one yellow and one orange, gently incorporating the dye with a spoon. Leave the third batch white.
4. Place each mixture in its own pastry bag. On a baking sheet, pipe out a yellow swirl for the base, topped with an orange swirl and then a white swirl.
5. Bake for 90 minutes. Turn off the oven and prop open the oven door about an inch (with a wooden spoon, if necessary) for another hour.
6. Remove, letting the cookies cool completely before storing in an airtight container.