Peppermint Macaroons are a family favorite recipe!  With just five simple ingredients, you can easily whip up a batch any time your family asks for them.

I can’t believe we’re halfway through #ChristmasCookies week!  Have you been following the hashtag?  If not, you should.  There have been some amazing confections shared this week so far and I know there are some even more scrumptious cookies to be shared through Saturday.

And we’re you’re at it, check out my post from yesterday and enter the giveaway from Nielsen-Massey.  I used their coffee extract on those coffee shortbread cookies.  They have amazing extracts and other baking products.  I know I’ve highlighted them a few times during various blogging events, but wanted to give them another shout out today.  So, please do enter the giveaway.

Today, I’m sharing the delicious family recipe I told you about yesterday.  It’s one that’s in our family cookbook.  Wait.  You mean not everyone has a family cookbook?  Why not?  It’s not difficult.  I made one for our family when my sister was getting married.

It’s a book of all the favorite recipes we made year after year along with some we made only on special occasions.  I changed up the font, added some fun clipart or photos, printed them on half sheet paper, and then put them all in a small three ring binder.  Yes.  They do make those.

It was a fun thing to do not only for my sister, but for the rest of us in the family, too.  Consequently, it brought up many memories and stories about how the recipes came to be and who was famous for making them.

And then there’s that one recipe that, no matter how hard we tried, we followed religiously every year.  The directions state to make a pot of turkey and rice soup.  Then you leave on the stove to cool, forget about it for a couple of days until it spoils, and then throw it out.  Because that’s inevitably what happens to it every year.  At least when I was growing up.

But this recipe was my sister’s favorite.  They’re even called A’s Peppermint Macaroons.  I think I have peanut butter cookies in there, but don’t quote me on that.  I’ll have to double check.

Anyway, I have a fond memory of baking these cookies with my mother.  I remember it being a huge kitchen.  So, it wasn’t our kitchen.  There was an island and a stand mixer, I think.

Now, I’d seen these cookies made year after year, but I think this was the first time I was getting to participate in the making of the cookies.  At least that’s what I remember.  And it involved egg whites and the elusive meringue.  Ooooohhh.  Meringue.

It also included extract, chocolate chips, and food coloring.  Yes.  We added food coloring to them, typically, to make them green.  I guess so people would know there’s peppermint in there?  Or just to be festive for the holidays.  I’m not sure which and probably both at the same time.

So, these were all exciting items for a young kitchen hoor to witness and be party to.  I remember sitting there watching the beaters go around and around.  I saw the egg whites turn from a yellow-ish color to a foamy light yellow and then finally to the typical white that meringue turns into.  It was mesmerizing.  Then we added the extract and the coloring.  And THAT was mesmerizing!  Finally, we stirred in the chocolate chips and we were ready to drop them onto the baking sheet.

At that time there wasn’t silpat everywhere like there is now.  I was lucky enough to get to measure out the aluminum foil and lightly spritz it with cooking spray.  Actually, I’m not sure we did that with these cookies.  I think they just cooked on the foil and then we peeled them off when they were finished.

Decades later, my mother and I pondered whether these were, at one time, a French macaron style recipe that went awry.  It has the makings of it anyway.  It’s just missing the almond meal.  And they’re not your typical macaroon, which has coconut on it.  I mean, technically, they’re simply meringue kisses or cookies.  But, I’m not going to change the name.  They have and will always be peppermint macaroons to me.

Now, here’s the twist.  These are actually almond.  The hubs isn’t a huge fan of peppermint and chocolate.  So, I took some of that Nielsen-Massey extract I mentioned in yesterday’s post and put it in these cookies.  Technically, these are Almond Macaroons.  And he hasn’t had a single one.  So, I think next year, I’ll stick to the peppermint version.

Don’t forget to see what the other bloggers are sharing today for #ChristmasCookies week.  I know I have several pinned and can’t wait to see the rest of them.  They sound divine!

#ChristmasCookies Thursday

• Caramel-Stuffed Snickerdoodles by The Redhead Baker
• Chocolate Cake Mix Christmas M&M Cookies by Family Around the Table
• Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cookies by Frugal Pantry
• Dark Chocolate Dipped Orange Biscotti by Making the Most of Naptime
• Frosted Peppermint Sugar Cookies by My Southern Sweet Tooth
• Gingerdoodles by Making Miracles
• Ginger Chocolate Chip Cookies by Kate’s Recipe Box
• Mexican Chocolate Chip Crinkle Cookies by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Pignoli Cookies by Love and Confections
• Peppermint Macaroons by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Place Setting Sugar Cookies by The Freshman Cook
• Santa’s Chocolate Chip Cookies by Soulfully Made
• Santa’s Thumbprint Cookies by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings