MERINGUE COOKIES 14 DECEMBER 2022
As the Howlidays get closer and closer, I decided to bake the three cookies I've traditionally baked for more years than I want to count: Meringue, Spritz & Chocolate-Dipped Creams. I started with Meringue Cookies (or, in Dutch, Schaumpjes; you may recognize the root of Schaum, as in Schaum Torte. This translates roughly into 'foam'). If you are anywhere near my age, you may remember that electric companies produced and gave away Christmas Cooky [sic] Books every year (and still do); that is where all three recipes came from, back in the early 1960s. (This may have been a local thing, altho I always thought every electric company did this.) I still have several of these Christmas Cooky [sic] Books; much like the Sears Wishbook, this was something to look forward to every year. Work station #1 . . . . . . and work station #2 . . .
The vanilla sugar is used in place of vanilla extract, to keep the cookies white (one hopes). Vinegar is not only used to clean the whisks/beaters, the spatula & the bowl, but in the recipe itself. I had some sprinkles; Neal brought home some more. I have two cookie presses;  the original MIRRO one I've used for ever & ever (which I think qualifies it as an antique) . . . The STAR plate is used for the Meringue cookies; the other plates are for the Spritz cookies.
 . . . and an electric one, which I don't find very handy to use. Whilst looking for this pic, I realized the recipes for the Meringue & Spritz came from the MIRRO recipe book provided with the press, and NOT from the Christmas Cooky [sic] Book, but I'm leaving in that comment for some nostalgia. (Isn't that what Christmas is all about?) This year, however, I am trying some new things: 1) using pastry bag[s] so I can get some practice with them; 2) lining the cookie sheets with parchment paper (it was always a crap shoot whether these cookies would come off the cookie sheet whole or in pieces); and 3) using WHISKS instead of BEATERS (which I never had on previous mixers). Taste Tester #1 is also Cookie Decorator # 1. . .
I used the parchment paper that has circles on it for the MACARONS I attempted in August, but I soon realized that the circles were really too big and I couldn't get very many cookies on each sheet. As the baking time is 45 minutes, baking many cookie sheets could be a day-long project. As they do not rise, they can be placed closely together, and making them bite-size makes them easier to eat without making a mess, too. Neal used all the colors . . . . . . but I stayed mainly with red & green . . . I was disappointed that the first baked batch DID turn a bit beige . . . . . . and expanded just a bit . . . The second batch, which I put into the oven, then turned it off to let the cookies dry out for the afternoon, turned out much better . . . . . . white, crunchy throughout and bite-sized. 1) The parchment paper let the cookies lift right off, and made the cookie sheet clean-up easy-peasy. 2) Using pastry bags made more of a mess than the cookie press had, however, so I will probably use that next year. 3) Using the WHISKS improved the egg whites; altho, impatient as ever, I did not let them get to stiff peak stage before adding the sugar; a bit more cream of tartar helped somewhat. A lesson learned for next time. Because the Spritz recipe calls for THREE egg yolks, I double the recipe to use SIX, and then I triple the Meringue recipe to use up the SIX egg whites. Both versions are below. If you don't have superfine sugar, powdered sugar will work, OR put regular sugar through a food processor, which is what I did.
THE ORIGINAL RECIPE right THE TRIPLED RECIPE below Instructions are the same for both recipes, but put the smaller recipe in a smaller bowl.

HOWLIDAY BAKING, PART 2 . . . SPRITZ COOKIES
OR, HOW I SCREWED UP, MAGNIFICENTLY, HERE