Cooking With Food Storage: Sparkling Kisses Cookies

This is another recipe from King Arthur Flour. My husband and I are currently watching our weight and we wanted something we could eat during General Conference this weekend.

For those of you who don't know, twice a year, all LDS watch church services direct from Salt Lake City on TV instead of going to their local church for Sunday services. (You can tune in too, if you have BYUTV!) In countries where TV is limited, everyone gathers in their local church to watch a satellite hook up of the services in Salt Lake City. Services are held for four hours on Saturday and four hours on Sunday. (Two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon - you don't have to sit still for a solid four hours!) Members are encouraged to watch all four sessions.

Back to the cookies. The problem (for me) with these cookies is they require electricity to make them. Hand crank beaters and a Sun Oven will not work. You will understand why as you continue reading.

Let's start with the recipe from King Arthur Flour. It was very easy to make and whipped up in a jiffy! If interested, you can see the original recipe here. As always, my changes are noted next to the listed ingredient. 

Sparkling Kisses
4 egg whites (I used egg white powder and water.)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tarter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or extract of your choice (I used fiori di sicilia. This is a King Arthur Flour product. It has a light lemon flavor.)
Sparkling sugar sprinkles

Start with the egg whites. It wouldn't be cooking with food storage if I used fresh egg whites (and besides I didn't have any.) So I opted for egg white powder. I purchase mine in a #10 can and then I refill a smaller container I got at the big box store. This smaller container is much more expensive (per ounce) than a #10 can but if you don't use a lot of egg white powder, the smaller can is very handy to have for emergencies.

Beat the egg whites until foamy. You can use hand crank beaters to get the egg whites foamy. They work well for this step. But, since I knew that I needed the electric beaters for the next step, I just used the electric ones so I wouldn't have to wash so many dishes.

I apologize for the shadows on the picture. I didn't realize they were there until I uploaded them. Now add the cream of tartar, salt, and sugar a little at a time and beat until the mixture is glossy and creates stiff peaks. 

The only way you can get egg whites to form stiff peaks is to use an electric beater. As hard as you try, the best you can do with hand crank beaters is soft peaks. That won't work with this recipe. They need to be firm peaks. Here is a picture of mine when I finished.

Add the vanilla extract (or the extract of your choice) now. I mixed mine in by hand.

Drop by tablespoon full on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper or lightly greased. I used parchment paper. The original recipe says it will make 30 cookies, I only got 25.

At this point, you are supposed to sprinkle them with the sparkling sugar. I forgot! Mine went into the oven naked!

Bake in a 250 degree oven for one hour. That is the easy part - very doable for a Sun Oven. However, the next step isn't. After they bake for one hour, turn off the oven and let them sit in the oven until completely cooled. 1 1/2 - 2 hours for a chewy cookie or up to 3 hours for a crisp, dry cookie. I wanted a chewy cookie so I only left mine for 1 1/2 hours. They were still slightly warm when I took them out.

In order to compensate for their nakedness, I decided to use a food coloring spray to brighten them up a bit. The only colors I had were gold and white. (These were left over from the Gingerbread house I made at Christmas.) I used gold.

Even though they are for the weekend, I had to taste one. They were nice and chewy! The fiori di sicilia flavor was nice. My husband said they were good. If I make them again, I will try almond extract next.

If you want a quick, easy, fat free, low calorie cookie (with the flavor of your choice), you can't beat this recipe!