Vanilla and mint clouds

Yesterday was lazy in the way that Sundays ought to be. My husband and I slept in, petted the kitties, and I baked bread. Our friend, Tree, came over to visit in the afternoon, and the three of us sat around the kitchen table talking while the vanilla peppermint meringues baked.

The best of 12 meringue photos I took

The whole afternoon had a relaxed air about it, as if the day were pulled from that 1930s Billie Holiday song, "Pennies From Heaven." I kept imagining six-year-old Molly Singer from Corina, Corina floating on a pool raft, crooning, "Don't you know each time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven?" We must have munched through over a half-dozen meringues before Tree and I left for a walk downtown.

Clotilde's recipe for French meringues forms the base of this recipe. I've made her plain meringues several times before using a stout vanilla and unrefined turbinado sugar. The complex flavor of the turbinado lends a caramel flavor to the vanilla that I enjoy. But yesterday, I tweaked the classic recipe to incorporate leftover Andes peppermint candies. I was inspired by the seasonal Mrs. Meyers candle we'd been burning at home. There's nothing quite as comforting as vanilla and mint together.

Vanilla mint French meringues

• 4 egg whites at room temperature
  
• 3/4 cup + 1 Tb. turbinado sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp spearmint sauce
• 1/3 cup Andes peppermint baking chips or pillow mints, chopped finely

Preheat the oven to 285 degrees Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the egg whites in a large, very clean bowl and whisk the dickens out of them, until soft peaks form. Keep whisking continuously and add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. My turbinado comes in rather large crystals and this process was lengthy for me; however, stay the course and make sure each round of sugar is fully dissolved before adding another spoonful.

Once the sugar is incorporated, the mixture should be glossy and gorgeous and ready for the vanilla and spearmint sauce. Incorporate them fully before very gently folding in the baking chips.

Using a piping bag or two spoons, drop half-tangerine-sized blobs of meringue on the baking sheets, about 2 or 3 inches apart. They will expand as they cook. Bake the meringues for 45 minutes if you like chewy centers (as I do) or 60 minutes for a thoroughly crunchy cookie. However you prefer your centers, make sure the meringues cool completely before storing them in an air-tight container.

Makes 2 dozen small meringues.


"Pennies from Heaven"
by Arthur Johnston

A long time ago
A million years BC
The best things in life
Were absolutely free.
But no one appreciated
A sky that was always blue.
And no one congratulated
A moon that was always new.
So it was planned that they would vanish now and then
And you must pay before you get them back again.
That's what storms were made for
And you shouldn't be afraid for
Every time it rains it rains
Pennies from heaven.
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven.
You'll find your fortune falling
All over town.
Be sure that your umbrella is upside down.
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers.
If you want the things you love
You must have showers.
So when you hear it thunder
Don't run under a tree.
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me.