Day One Hundred and Forty One: Meringue Not Merengue Swirls

In the last one hundred and forty days of writing this blog, I have learned so much.  Among my lessons, I have learned how to wield a pastry bag with brilliance, how to make a terrine, and how not to make petites fours.

I have also learned that a shocking number of my girlfriends have a guilty pleasure:  meringue.  (Not to be confused with merengue, which is the sexy Latin music and dance sensation.  I'm talking food here, people.)

All this meringue-mania comes as a surprise to me since (before this blog) I've never made meringue in my life, never been served meringue at a party, or even seen it on a dessert menu.  I feel a little behind the curve.  Like when I made fun of someone last year for wearing high-waisted pants before I realized they were back in style.  :Believe it:

With my friends in mind, I made Martha's Meringue Swirls.  They are bite-sized meringue cookies, laced with orange zest and orange food coloring and piped to look like this:

How ridiculously cute are those, right?

Too bad mine turned out like this:

Slightly different effect, I know.  Even though they don't quite look the same, they are still TA-STY.  I'm jumping on this Meringue Bandwagon. Care to join me?