Stormy Loreto
When you find a cup of egg whites in your refrigerator leftover from making key lime curd you either make a tasteless egg white omelet (sorry body builders, it’s true) or you make meringue cookies.
Because I was clearly still on a sugar high from the key lime curd, I chose to invent Meyer Lemon Meringue Cranberry Cookies. They are seriously easy to make, low-fat, and you can make believe that they’re healthy for you. Hello, dried cranberries and egg whites are healthy, mostly.
Sugar meet High. These are very low in fat but high in sugar. Think lemony firm cotton candy. Delicious but proceed with caution and eat just a few. Better yet, share them with friends.
I didn’t have cream of tartar but it turns out that you just need an acid to stabilize the egg whites and as you know from previous Baja Kitchen posts, I froze a bushel of Meyer lemons, so voila, I had tasty acid. I doubled the lemon juice and threw in dried cranberries to make these original Lemon Meringue Cranberry Cookies.
Food safety note:
Never taste a batter with raw egg in Mexico or anywhere. I tasted a cake batter, without thinking, on the day I left Baja, and ended up in a U.S. emergency room with a serious food born illness; a Campylobacter infection. That cake cost me $3500 US dollars in hospital charges. A friend of mine caught a serious infection from Cesear Salad dressing made with raw egg in Loreto. Her visit cost about $50 US in Baja. *sigh, US prices are ridiculous.
Please use caution and never eat raw eggs.
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Meyer Lemon Meringue Cranberry Cookies
Simple meringue cookies made with Meyer lemon juice and dried cranberries.
- 3 Eggs Whites only
- 2/3 Cup Sugar
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 Teaspoon Meyer lemon juice (Substitute any fresh lemon or lime juice)
- 2 Teaspoons Lemon zest
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 Cup Dried cranberries
- Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Separate egg yolks from whites and reserve yolks for another recipe. (Key lime pie, chili relleno). Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Combine egg whites, lemon juice,which is a substitute for cream of tartar, salt and vanilla. Beat egg mixture until frothy. Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and continue beating until combined. Beat eggs and sugar until stiff glossy peaks form, about 10 minutes. Fold in dried cranberries.
Pipe meringue, 1-2 inches kisses, onto parchment paper on a baking sheet, with a pastry bag or from a plastic bag with the end cut.
Bake 50 minutes at 250 degrees. Turn off oven and let sit in the oven for 60 additional minutes without opening the oven door.
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What's for dinner, Doc? 
I do that too! Keep my whites (or yolks, for that matter) for use in something else (always sweet).
These sound delicious… just so happens I have chunks of Meyer lemons in MY freezer and whites in my fridge. Hmm 😉
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Sounds like you need to make meringues.
Thanks for commenting Dale.
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