Parisian Inspired Meringues

On my recent trip, I fell in love again with meringue. They are so simple, yet to elegant and delicious. And naturally gluten free. Since I had never made them myself I thought I would give it a try. I found a recipe on the Joy of Baking to work from. I used:

• 3 large egg whites 
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup organic raw cane sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon lavender extract
• 8 drops blue food color
• 6 drops red food color
• carob powder for dusting.

Preheat oven to 200F. Cover your largest baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Beat egg whites for a minute, then add cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. Add sugar a bit at a time and beat hard until firm peaks form. Add lavendar extract (or whatever extract you would like) and food color (optional). Mix again until extract and food color is well incorporated. 

Put meringue batter into a pastry bag (I finally invested in one), ziploc bag, or use spoons.

Pipe or drop onto baking sheet. Dust with carob powder. Bake 1.5-2 hours. Let cool before you try them (they won't be the right texture until they are cooled, trust me on this one, I couldn't wait and tried right away). Then enjoy!

Mine have stored nicely for a week. 

What flavor of meringue do you like best?