Eggs-plore Science by Making Meringues

Beating egg whites causes an amazing change. When you add sugar and bake, more changes happen...and you get a delicious cookie! Make predictions, observations, and discoveries together while making this simple meringue recipe.

Directions

Preheat your oven to 250°. Grease a baking sheet.

Carefully separate the yolks from each egg, allowing just the whites to fall into your mixing bowl. If you don't have an egg separator, just pass the yolk back and forth between the two halves of the broken shell until all the white has fallen into the bowl.

Before beating the eggs, ask your child what he thinks will happen. While the eggs are mixing, ask him what changes he notices.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. (They should appear fluffy and white.) Next, slowly beat in the sugar and vanilla. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.

Help your child drop small spoonfuls of the mixture onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake in your preheated oven at 250° for 45-50 minutes (or until crisp). Ask him to guess how the heat will change the mixture.

After removing the cookies, talk about your child’s prediction. Explain how the heat caused the mixture to spread and become firm.

Let the cookies cool to room temperature and enjoy!

Explore Further

Hard-boiled, soft-boiled, fried, and scrambled — each kind of cooked egg has a different texture and taste. Over several days, let your child help you make eggs in a number of ways. Taste them. Talk about the parts of the eggs and where eggs come from. Ask your child to describe ways the eggs change when they are cooked. Discuss how boiled eggs, fried eggs, and scrambled eggs are similar and different.