From what I remember and hear, my grandmother (Nanny) was a great cook and baker. I began baking with her when I could barely reach the counter, in fact, I needed a stool.
But my grandmother had 4 daughters, and between them, there are 9 grandkids, so when it came to passing down, things got spread a bit thin. Not that I’m complaining, I have plenty to remember Nanny by–a recipe box, many recipes, and many non-cooking items. So when I saw that this month’s Recipe Redux Challenge was a recipe using a favorite passed down kitchen tool, I had to put on my thinking cap.
I decided to go with using her old wooden-handled scoop that I use in my flour bin. And, then, thinking of passing down, I also decided to use my kitchen-aid mixer. While I’m its original owner, I’m hoping to get the opportunity to pass it down myself to one of my kids or perhaps grandkids.
Using this flour scoop
and my mixer means I’ll be baking, yeah!
I’d been wanting to make these cute little lemon meringue pie cookies for awhile now. But every recipe I found called for using store-bought sugar cookie dough. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I prefer to make my cookies from scratch. Luckily I finally found a recipe for cookie cups here and then I used it as my base for my mini lemon meringue cookie cups. They came out perfect! I ended up having them for our Easter dinner dessert (that’s why you may see a glimpse of candy eggs in my picture).
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- About 2 cups lemon pudding/pie filling*
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tarter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a mini muffin tin with a spritz of canola oil. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder, set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in dry ingredients until combined. Roll into 1" sized balls and place in muffin tin.** Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool about 5 minutes, and then turn over onto cooling rack and gently tap to let them fall out. Cool completely before filling.
- Once cool, place 1 to 2 teaspoons of lemon filling into each cup.
- For meringue: Turn oven to 350 degrees. Place egg whites in a the bowl of a standing mixer or a large bowl. Beat until foamy, a minute or two. Add cream of tarter and beat on high several minutes until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and continue beating on high until stiff peaks form.
- Spread about a tablespoon of meringue on each cookie or use a piping bag and star tip to squeeze about a tablespoon onto each cookie. Place on a cookie sheet, and bake 8-12 minutes, until meringue turns golden brown.
- Let cool, and enjoy!
- *made from your favorite recipe or a box mix if you prefer--the amount needed depends on how much filling you put in each cookie cup
- **you may want to press the center of the balls down a bit prior to cookie to create a cup. However, I found if I simply tapped the pan gently on the counter or oven rack as I was removing them, the centers sank a bit creating a perfect indent.
Check out what passed on kitchen gadget my colleagues chose to create with, and what they created.
Hi! I'm Heidi and I'm a Mom, a foodie, and a dietitian all rolled into one. Here I share my common sense thoughts, opinions, ideas, and more about raising healthy kids, eating nutritiously, and eating deliciously in the real world.
Heidi, your photo of the Easter cups are beautiful!!! Is that you in the photo on the top? (: Love the flour scoop.
Thanks Serena. Yup, that’s me!
These cookies look amazing! I’m sure your kids are dying to get their hands on that mixer so they can make amazing creations like their mom 🙂
Thanks Whitney!
Heidi, these are adorable and looks so delish! Love lemon flavored dessert and this looks perfect for spring. What nice memories too, of using your grandmother’s wooden scoop!
Thanks Jenny, they are yummy!
These look great! I love lemon meringue, but it’s a new twist and portion control 🙂
Thanks Steph! Yes, one or two are the perfect amount for a sweet treat, but not too much.