Rose Meringues

Preheat the oven to 275°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place 2 small bowls on your working surface.

Crack an egg as cleanly as you can in half. Over one of the bowls, transfer the egg back and forth between the 2 eggshell halves, letting the white of the egg fall into the bowl. You should only have to transfer it from shell to shell just a few times in order to separate the egg. Place the egg yolk in the other bowl and you can use it however you want (it’s not used at all in this recipe).

Separate all the eggs accordingly.

Put the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer and add 1 teaspoon of rose water.

With the whisk attachment, turn the mixer on medium-high and whisk it for about 2 minutes, until it becomes foamy and soft peaks begin to form.

When soft peaks begin to form, while the mixer is still on, SLOWLY add the sugar, about 1-2 tablespoons at a time over about a 6-minute time frame.

Let the whisk keep mixing the egg whites for about 30 seconds before adding more sugar.

After 6 minutes, the sugar should be added, and the egg whites should be glossy and have at least tripled in volume (or more). Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides with a spatula to make sure all the sugar gets incorporated.

Mix for another minute.

Stiff peaks should form at this point, and it should be ready to bake.

Put a 2-3 tablespoon size dollop on the prepared baking sheet, leaving several inches between each meringue. You can make it decorative by putting the meringue into a piping bag and using a decorative tip instead, if you want it to look like a flower or a rose.

Place it in the oven on the center rack and bake it for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, move the meringue to the lowest rack in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes.

Lower the oven to 225°F and bake for another 20 minutes (one hour of baking time total).

Turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven until it has completely cooled (this could take several hours), or even overnight.

Serve and enjoy!