Cinnamon Message Meringues

This past weekend, Caitlin graduated from law school.  But she didn’t just graduate; she graduated with style, earning a number of academic honors and awards.

But a few days before the graduation, I found myself sitting around with a lot of extra egg whites (you’ll see why in a few days).  Rather than toss perfectly good egg whites, I decided to make meringues.  And rather than make the simple spiral meringues, I decided to spice them up a bit — literally and figuratively!

After a healthy dash of cinnamon, and a few twirls from my piping bag, I had a graduation message in cinnamon meringue!

Cinnamon Message Meringues

PREP TIME: 20 minutes
COOK TIME: 2 hours, plus at least 4 hours for cooling
YIELD: Lots of Meringue

WHAT TO GRAB:
5 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 cup vanilla-sugar (or plain granulated sugar)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.  Cover, and shake well, so that the cinnamon and sugar are well-mixed.

2.  In a clean, metal mixing bowl, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on medium speed until soft peaks have formed.  Working in tablespoon batches, slowly add the cinnamon-sugar over high speed, beating until stiff peaks form.

3.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  You can pipe a little drop of meringue in each corner so that the parchment paper will not move.  Fit a star-shaped pastry tip into a piping bag or large plastic bag (a gallon-size Ziploc works well).  Fill half of the bag with the meringue.  Piping continuously, write out your message or messages!

4.  Bake the meringues for two hours, or until the meringues are dry and crisp, but not browned.  Turn off the heat and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for at least four hours, and up to overnight.