How do you say "Thank-you" to 10 starving musicians who do you a favour?

Well, with beer, obviously...but what if you are also one of those starving musicians?

Then with cookies! A LOT of cookies...

In fact, five kinds of cookies: (Not my) Aunt Tillie's Cornflake Meringues with Walnuts, Coconut and Dried Apricot, Simple Cornmeal Cookies, Lemon Cookies, Mexican Chocolate Cookies and Marbled Cookies.

When I think of "Cornflake Cookies" I think of a kids cookbook, but no, this is not that kind of recipe. These are melt-in-your-mouth little clusters of crunch, sweet, and smooth (pretend those are all nouns...).

2 egg whites (at room temperature!)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 c. granulated sugar (not can sugar or a coarse sugar. The finer the better. The meringues will end up with a sandy texture)
2 1/2 c. cornflakes
2/3 c. shredded coconut (the recipe says sweetened coconut is best, but I think either works. I'm sorry it doesn't call for dessicated coconut. Just for the name. You almost feel bad for the coconut (decimated? Devastated?), but I've never had reason to buy it.
1/3 c. chopped walnuts
1/4 c. chopped dried apricots.

There are 4 steps to this recipe, and the first one is very, very easy. That's a big part of why it's so wonderful.

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare the baking sheets with butter, parchment paper or foil (Okay, so maybe that's two steps in one, but they're easy).

2. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium until soft peaks form (like rolling hills), then gradually add the sugar, turn the speed to high, and beat until stiff peaks form (when you turn off the beaters and lift them out of the meringue, spikes will form and won't fall fall back down).

3. Fold in the cornflakes, coconut, walnuts and dried apricots using a rubber spatula until the cornflakes are coated in egg white. According to Alice all folding must be done using a rubber spatula. Invest).

4. Drop by slightly rounded teaspoons about 1 1/2" apart on baking sheets (they don't spread), and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until slightly brown.

These only keep 3-4 days in a sealed container, but they freeze for up to 2 months. I'm not quite sure how I feel about freezing them because I'm nervous about what would happen to the texture of the cookie. It couldn't possibly be as fluffy, could it?

The best thing about these cookies is that you get the lightness of a meringue, but it's less disappointing when the sugar all melts in your mouth. Normally that's the end of the cookie, and you need another bite or another cookie to enjoy the flavour, but with this cookie once the meringue is melted, there's still half a cookie worth of cornflake, coconut, walnut and apricot to enjoy. Lots of crunch and sweet, post-smooth. See? Nouns.