I'M CUTTING OUT SUGAR!... starting tomorrow.

I've had this brilliant idea to cut out refined sugars from my diet. As I'm writing this, though, I'm eating a bowl of icecream and last night I took it upon myself to make meringue cookies. This "reformed diet" idea may need to wait for a bit. I think healthy eating is something I'm definitely going to start incorporating into my life more, but I sat down with the February edition of Southern Living Magazine only to stop myself on the first page when I saw a recipe for cotton candy meringues! Making these little sweets was the best and worst decision of the week.

To make these, you'll need:
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. white vinegar
1&1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
OPTIONAL food coloring

To start:
1. Pre-heat oven to 250 F. Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.
2. Mix the sugar and cornstarch together, then gradually beat the mixture into the egg yolks.
3. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the vinegar and vanilla into the egg white mixture.
4. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment, place dollops of the mixture. I chose to pipe mine out with a bag and Wilton's 1M piping tip.
5. Bake for an 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the oven off, but leave the pan in for 1&1/2 hours. The meringues will be good up to five days in an airtight container.

I separated my batter into three different bowls and added food coloring to them. In one bowl, 2 drops red & 1 drop blue. In the second bowl, I added 2 blue, 1 green and 1 yellow. In the last bowl, i added 2 red and 2 yellow.  I didn't fully fold in the coloring so it was a little stripey! I layered the different colored mixtures in the piping bag so they would come out all swirly and pretty!

These would be really nice to serve at a wedding or baby shower. You can add practically any flavoring or coloring. They are just so fun. They look really sweet and dainty and taste similar to Lucky Charms marshmallows. If you're having less sugar (starting tomorrow,) like I am, I highly recommend that you binge a little on these first!

Peace and love. XXX.