1. Preheat the oven to 250F. line baking pans with parchment paper
2. Prepare the egg whites and set them aside to let them come to room temperature.
3. Sift the sugars together and set them aside.
4. Add the cream of tartar to the room-temperature egg whites until the cream of tartar has completely dissolved and the whites are foamy. Add salt
5. Beat egg whites until doubled in volume.
6. Add half the sugar and whisk until the whites are glossy and start to get stiff.
7. Add the remaining sugar and whisk until the whites hold stiff peaks.
8. Add the flavorings.
9. Remove about 1/3 of the meringue into a separate bowl. Add the coloring and whisk it until it the desired color is evenly distributed.
10. Add the colored meringue back into the other bowl on top of the white meringue. Using a spatula, gently fold the two meringues together until they are just striped. It only takes a few folds for this.
11. Drop the striped meringue by the spoonful onto the parchment paper on your baking pans. The meringues will not spread while baking, so they can be placed as close as possible without touching each other. (Use a tablespoon to get 3 dozen big cookies, a teaspoon for more, smaller, cookies. You can also use a pastry bag, if you have one, for fancier cookies.)
12. Bake at 250F for 30 minutes.
13. After 30 minutes, reduce the heat to 225F and bake for one more hour for chewy cookies, or 2 more hours for crisp-all-the-way-through cookies.
14. Turn off the heat, crack open the oven door, and let them cool for 30 minutes.
15. Remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.
