Holiday Kisses

This is a really fun recipe to make! I was a little nervous at first, because I’ve never whipped up egg whites before, therefore, haven’t made this type of cookie before.Whipping up the egg whites was fun because I used my Grandma Bess’s very own hand mixer! My parents sent it to me with some of my Grandma’s cook books a while back.  It was a welcome addition to my baking supplies, and I just think it’s cool to use the baking tools and utensils my Grandma used!

I rated this cookie recipe 2-stars because it’s really easy to follow and baking the cookies doesn’t take that long. The two parts that were a little tricky, therefore adding a star, were beating the egg whites and removing the cookies from the cookies sheets.

Beating the egg whites was, as I found out, pretty easy. You just have to make sure you are watching them carefully while beating so you get them to just the right consistency.

The other tricky part was removing the cookies from the cookies sheets. The recipe says to bake on “lightly greased” cookie sheets…well, I lightly greased and then moved to heavily greased and the cookies still stuck! I had to be very careful when trying to remove them, they are fragile and can break/crack if you aren’t as gentle as possible.

Once I got all my ingredients and utensils together, I started beating the egg whites with my handheld electric mixer.

It wasn’t long before they started to whip up and thicken. I kept beating for about 3 – 4 minutes before adding the salt and cream of tartar.

I beat the egg whites until they were firm and had firm peaks when I lifted the mixer. Next, I added the confectioner’s sugar about ¼ cup at a time. The bowl I was using wasn’t very deep, so if I wasn’t careful, I would have sprayed sugar all over the place! Adding small amounts at a time worked perfectly. The sugar made the egg whites smooth and shiny and super sweet, as you can imagine!

Once all the sugar was blended, I set the mixer aside and folded the chopped pecans in with a wooden spoon.

The dough was now ready for baking! The recipe doesn’t call for any holiday decorations, so rather than just bake white cookies, I decided to sprinkle red and green colored sugar on top of the cookies drops before baking. The color add just the right amount of festivity to the white.

I did my best to remove the cookies from the cookies sheets without breaking or cracking them. First, I tried removing them right out of the oven, letting them cool for a few minutes and letting them cool almost completely. Next, I greased the cookies sheets after each baking, but nothing worked. So, you’ll just have to be careful and take your time.

I did break a few, which gave me the opportunity to try these delicious cookies. WOW! The sugar, vanilla and pecan combination with the light crunchy shell of the egg whites is AMAZING! These cookies are light, sweet, and decadent! They almost melt in your mouth with a slightly caramely and pecan flavor. When biting into a warm cookie, it’s just simply yummy!

You can decorate these cookies for the winter holiday or for any holiday or season throughout the year! These cookies will be a great addition to any dessert tray or just served by themselves. Your family and guests will rave about them and for sure want the recipe!

Holiday Kisses

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Ingredients

3 egg whites
1/8 tsp salt
½ tsp cream of tartar
2 ¼ cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped pecans

Instructions

Beat egg whites with rotary beater until foamy. Add salt and cream of tartar slowly and continue beating until egg whites are stiff and stand in peaks. Add sugar gradually, beating well. Add vanilla and mix. Fold in chopped nuts. Drop by spoonful on lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for about 15 – 20 minutes. Store in air-tight container.

Recipe Yield

Makes about 4 dozen 1x

Cookie Category:  Drop

Cookie Difficulty Rating

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