Meringue cookies make sweet treats for a valentine

Valentine's Day is the perfect time for a sweet treat for your sweetheart. One of my personal favorites is meringue. These light and airy treats can be filled with fruit, ice cream, chocolates or flavor the meringues before baking for a strawberry or lemon-tasting treat. The possibilities are plentiful when baking meringues. They can be piped into a birdnest style or into a mound. Whatever your delight, they will be a welcome surprise for your sweetie.

Valentine Meringue Kisses

4 large egg whites, warmed to room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup plus sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

Red liquid food coloring, 3 to 4 drops, optional

Valentine candy sprinkles, optional

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper, securing with masking tape if necessary. Place egg whites in large copper or stainless steel bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until foamy then add cream of tartar and salt. As soon as whites reach soft peak stage gradually add sugar to egg whites, 1 tablespoon at a time beating at high speed until stiff glossy peaks form and meringue feels smooth when rubbed between your fingers. The meringue has reached the stiff peak stage when you lift the beaters out of the mixture and the egg whites are shinny, firm and stand up. Beat in vanilla or almond extract and food coloring if using, just until combined. Don't overbeat mixture or cookies will be flat.

Spoon mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round or star tip. You can also use a large zip-top plastic bag with one corner snipped off to form a 1/2-inch opening. Pipe 40 2-inch round mounds at least a 1/4-inch apart onto prepared baking sheets. If desired, sprinkle with colored valentine candy sprinkles.

Bake at 225 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Turn oven off and cool meringues in closed oven for 1 hour. Remove from oven and carefully remove cookies from paper. Store cookies for up to 1 week in an airtight container in a cool location.

Chocolate Kissed Meringue Cookies

4 large egg whites, warmed to room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons plus unsweetened cocoa, divided

1/3 cup large chocolate chips any kind

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper, securing with masking tape if necessary. Combine sugar with cocoa in a small bowl blending together with a whisk. Place egg whites in large copper or stainless steel bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed until foamy then add cream of tartar and salt. As soon as whites reach soft peak stage gradually add sugar and cocoa mixture to egg whites, 1 tablespoon at a time beating at high speed until stiff glossy peaks form and meringue feels smooth when rubbed between your fingers. Beat in vanilla. Spoon mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round or star tip. Pipe 40 1-inch round mounds at least a 1/4-inch apart onto prepared baking sheets. Place 1 chocolate chip in center of each then pipe meringue over top of chip in kiss shape. Bake at 225 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Turn oven off and cool meringues in closed oven for 1 hour. Remove from oven and carefully remove cookies from paper. Store cookies for up to 1 week in an airtight container in a cool location.

Although my children do like meringues, I am sure they would rather have a muffin filled with peanut butter and jelly. This is a special treat for them.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup fruit jelly or fruit jam

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the peanut butter with the egg; add the milk a little at a time, then add the butter. Mix well. Pour the wet batter into a bowl with the dry ingredients and stir gently to combine (the batter will be stiff). Put a heaping tablespoon of batter in the bottom of each muffin cup. Use your finger to put an indentation in the center of each muffin and put a teaspoon of jelly and jam in the indentation. Cover with another heaping teaspoon of batter, or enough to cover or enough to fill each cup about 2/3 full. Spread the top gently until you can't see any jelly and jam. Bake in a 375 degree oven until muffins are done and spring back with a light touch in the center. Remove pan from oven and turn muffins out onto a rack to slightly cool. Serve warm.

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A couple of weeks ago we had a request for homemade pork sausage recipes. We received this fabulous reply from Janet Schuessler of Frohna, Mo. This is the recipe they follow, although many ingredient portions are approximate, so you can build your own personal recipe.

Homemade Pork Sausage

25 pounds ground pork

1 to 1 1/4 handfuls of canning salt (approximately 2/3 cup)

3/4 handful of pepper (approximately 1/3 cup)

Spread ground pork out on a large counter and sprinkle salt and pepper over the top. Using your hands, mix well.

Test the flavor by frying some of the sausage. Add more seasoning if desired. When flavor is to your liking, the sausage is ready for eating or packaging.

Variations: For added flavor you might try approximately 5 pounds of onions, chopped can be added to the mixture with the seasonings, or approximately 4 to 5 pounds of potatoes, unpeeled, shredded, can be added, or approximately 12 apples, unpeeled, shredded and 1/3 cup cinnamon can be added.

These variations do not change the preparation time when cooking the meat for a meal.

I hope you will be able to try to make your own homemade pork sausage. It is not hard to do, but just takes time.

I wish each of you a very delightful Valentine's Day filled with lots of love. Until next time, happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan is administrator at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center. Send recipes to her at smcclanahan@semissourian.com or by mail at P.O. Box 699; Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701. Recipes published have not been kitchen-tested by the Southeast Missourian staff.