Rainbow Clouds

What happens when clouds drift through a rainbow?

They turn into yummy Meringue cookies. At least, that's what I told the children, when I served these up last night, but I don't think they believed me.

Mainly, I was looking for a recipe to show the children the potential of egg whites (a discussion that started after we made the A Cow, A Bee, A Cookie, and Me cookies). I liked the look of McCormick's Festive Meringue Cookies, and I even had all the ingredients for them, except for a proper pastry bag, to pipe them out pretty, which is where the idea of the clouds came in.

So...

McCormick's Festive Meringue Cookies turned
Yummy Rainbow Clouds

• 4 room temperature egg whites
  
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter (naturally, the McCormick's recipe calls for McCormick's cream of tarter)
  
• 1 cup sugar
  
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (again, McCormick's, if you prefer, but in this case, I used a generic brand)
  
• and 25 - 30 drops of food coloring (I used McCormick's Neon Colors, but I think standard red, blue, green, and yellow would show up better if your going for rainbow colors)
  

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat the egg whites until frothy.

Add the cream of tarter, and beat, at medium speed, until soft peaks form.

Increase the beater speed to medium high, and add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until the mixture is no longer shiny, and stiff peaks form. Beating egg whites always takes longer than it seems it should, so be patient.

Fold in the vanilla extract, and the food coloring. I drizzled a line of each color, across the mixture, poured on the vanilla, and then turned it, very gently, a couple of times with a spatula.

Drop by rounded teaspoons, onto a greased cookie sheet. They won't spread out much in baking.

Bake for 45 minutes, turn off the heat, and allow them to sit in the warm oven for an additional hour.

Enjoy the light, cloud like, rainbowy goodness.

It's great to be a homeschooler.