Coffee Meringue Kisses

Ingredients

 * 3/4 	cup	Sugar
 * 3 	tsp	Powdered instant coffee
 * 4 	Egg whites, room temperature
 * 1 	tsp	Vanilla extract
 * 1/4 	tsp	Cream of tartar

Directions
These cookies - said to have been a favorite with marie antoinette - are 100 percent fat-free, and have about 20 calories per cookie. They also have no flour, so would be good for someone who isn"t able to eat wheat. They will, however, tie up your oven for 3-4 hours. Heat oven to 250°F. Use nonstick cookie sheets, or line regular cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a food processor with a metal blade, process the sugar and coffee powder until the texture of the sugar becomes very fine. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and vanilla extract with an electric mixer at medium speed, until very frothy. Add cream of tartar, and continue beating at medium speed until soft peaks form. Increase beater speed to high, and gradually beat in sugar-coffee mixture. Continue beating until soft peaks form and mixture has a glossy sheen. To pipe cookies from pastry bag: fill pastry bag (or 1-gallon freezer bag), fitted with number 6 plain round pastry tube, with meringue. Hold bag upright over prepared cookie sheets and squeeze out meringue, leaving pastry tip buried in meringue, until you have piped out a round about 1 1⁄2" in diameter. Lift up tip and stop squeezing. Leave 1" between cookies. Or, drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet, leaving 2" between cookies. Bake 1 hour without opening oven door. Turn off oven, and let meringues dry in oven 2-3 hours more without opening oven door. At this point you can leave them in the oven overnight. Remove the meringues from the cookie sheet with a spatula. Store in airtight container. Makes about 3 dozen.
 * after the first hour, it"s okay to peek just once