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Last week I made homemade ice cream. Since it only called for egg yolks I had a bunch of egg whites leftover. Not wanting to waste all those egg whites, I thought I could make an egg white omelette but what fun is that when I could make a bunch of cookies! This recipe will produce about 120 cookies, enough to share with your neighbors. If you don’t want to make that many, this recipe can be halved. See below note for storing leftover egg whites.

6 Egg Whites
1/2 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/8 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1-1/2 Cups Of Granulated Sugar
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cardamom, optional

Preheat oven to 250°. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, add the egg whites and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Line 3, 1/2 sheet pans with parchment paper. Place the mixing bowl with the egg whites on the stand mixer. Add the vanilla, salt, cream of tartar, and cardamom to the egg whites and beat on medium speed until the egg mixture is frothy. Start adding the sugar, about 1/8 of a cup at a time, and begin to beat on high speed.

Once all the sugar is added, keep beating on high speed until the sugar has dissolved and until the whites are stiff and glossy, about 7-8 minutes. Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag with a large star tip. If you don’t have a pastry bag and a tip, either use a large ziplock bag and cut the corner of the bag to pipe out the meringue onto the cookie sheets or use a teaspoon to place the meringue onto the sheets.

Place about 40 cookies on each sheet pan 5 across and 8 down the length of the sheet pans. Bake for 40 minutes, DO NOT OPEN the oven doors. Shut the oven off and keep the door closed for an hour prior to removing the cookies. Once the hour is up, remove the pans and let the cookies cool at room temperature for about 2 hours.

Place the cookies in an airtight container or in this case, multiple containers and store in a cool, dry place. These cookies will hold for a few weeks.

If you have leftover egg whites that you are not able to use within 3 days, the extra whites can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

This recipe was adapted from Taste of Home.

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