Cardamom Rose Meringues

Give bites of love with these delicately flavored fluffy meringue cookies that are ever so lightly enhanced with a touch of cardamom.
These cookies are best made on days with low humidity, as high humidity days cause them to collapse. In other words, don't make these on a rainy day, they won't come out! These cookies are low in fat, contain no flour and are gluten free to boot!

You'll Need:

* 2 egg whites
* 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 2/3 cup white sugar
* 1/4 cup water
* 2 teaspoons rose extract
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 drop red food coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 225 degrees F & then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl or mixer beat egg whites and cream of tartar together with an electric mixer on high speed until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
In a small saucepan combine sugar, water, rose extract, cardamom, salt, and food coloring over low heat and bring to a simmer- stirring until the sugar has dissolved completely. Continue to simmer the mixture for a minute or two, stirring constantly.

Then very slowly pour the syrup in a thin stream into the beaten egg whites, beating constantly with electric mixer on high speed. You must be very carefully to avoid be splattered by the hot syrup!

Beat until the syrup is incorporated and the meringue is stiff and shiny.

Drop by spoonfuls or pipe into rosettes with a star tip onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven until the meringues are hard, 1 to 1 1/2 hours; turn off the oven, and allow them to cool inside the oven to finish baking the insides.

Substitution Help:
If you do not have Rose Extract, you can use 1 Tbs of Rose Water in it's place, reduce the amount of water in the recipe by 1 tsp.

Makes 18-20 Cookies

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