Lemon Meringue Cookies

Easter is coming and Patty and I are making pierogi on Saturday. This is our second time making them together, our second Easter without Babcia Rose, our second attempt to carry what she carried. Last year the pierogi were good. This year I think they are going to be better. I have been making the dough every month since November, practicing, and the dough is consistent now, reliable, mine.

Dziadek Wally will be at Easter. He is ninety-four, a fact that Ryan and I say to each other sometimes in the way you say things that are both remarkable and finite: ninety-four. He is ninety-four and he comes to Steve and Patty's and he sits at the table and he eats and he watches the twins and he tells stories to Owen that Owen listens to with complete attention. These dinners are finite. I sit at them with both eyes open.

The twins are two years old and they are going to have their first real Easter egg hunt. Last year they walked among the eggs and were vaguely interested. This year Owen will approach the hunt with a system — I know this, I know him — and Nora will approach it like Nora approaches everything, which is: full commitment to the most interesting direction until something more interesting presents itself. I am going to watch them from the porch and not interfere. This is the correct approach.

I made lamb for the first time this year, a leg of lamb from the Jewel that was on sale the week before Easter, roasted with rosemary and garlic and lemon. It is not a Polish dish. It is an Easter dish. I made it alongside the pierogi and the beet salad and the mushroom soup from the notebook, which I made the night before to let it develop overnight, which the notebook says it should, which it does. A full Easter spread. The first one I have made almost entirely myself. The first one that is mine.

The mushroom soup came from the notebook, the pierogi came from Patty and me and months of practice, and the lamb was new — but I wanted something bright and a little delicate at the end of the table, something that felt like the season rather than the weight of it. These lemon meringue cookies were that thing: light enough to sit alongside everything else without competing, lemony in the way that early April deserves, and simple enough that I could make them the morning of while the soup was already done and the pierogi were resting. They disappeared fast. That felt right too.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 15 min | Total Time: 1 hr 35 min | Servings: 24 cookies

Ingredients

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons lemon zest (from about 2 lemons)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
2–3 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 225°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Whip the whites. In a clean, dry stand mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until foamy and opaque, about 2 minutes.
Build the meringue. With the mixer running on medium-high, add the sugar one tablespoon at a time, waiting about 10 seconds between additions. Once all the sugar is incorporated, increase to high and beat until the meringue holds stiff, glossy peaks, about 4–5 minutes.
Add lemon and flavor. Reduce speed to low and mix in the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, salt, and food coloring if using. Fold gently with a spatula to finish incorporating without deflating the meringue.
Pipe the cookies. Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe 1 1/2-inch rounds onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart. Alternatively, drop rounded tablespoons onto the sheets and use the back of the spoon to create a small swirl on top.
Bake low and slow. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the cookies are dry to the touch and lift cleanly off the parchment. They should be very pale — cream to the faintest gold, not brown.
Cool in the oven. Turn the oven off and crack the door open. Let the cookies cool inside the oven for at least 30 minutes before removing. This prevents cracking from the temperature shift.
Store. Once fully cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Do not refrigerate — humidity will make them sticky.

Nutrition (per serving)

Lemon Meringue Cookies — The Sweet End to the First Easter That Was Mine