1. Preheat the oven to 225 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Beat the whites on high for one minute – the mixture will start to get very frothy looking. 
2. With the mixer running on low, slowly add the sugar. Once the sugar is all added, turn the mixer up to high again until stiff peaks begin to form. 
3. Continue to run the mixer on high for another 30 seconds to a minute or until the peaks are stiff and glossy. Remove the mixing bowl from the stand and fold in the lemon extract. If you’re using lemon zest, you could fold that in now too.*
4. Insert a large open star tip** into the bottom of a piping bag. If you want to add some yellow streaks to the meringue cookies like I have in my photos, add a few streaks of yellow food colouring down the sides of the bag before filing the bag with the meringue mixture. Pipe the meringue out on to the parchment paper, about a tablespoon at a time. Don’t worry about having perfect designs! 
5. Fill the baking sheet with meringue drop cookies until the bag is empty. Don’t worry about the cookies getting too close together as they won’t spread in the oven! Bake the cookies in the oven for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and leave the cookies in the oven for another hour or two before opening the door. After two hours, you can remove the cookies from the oven, and once cooled completely, place them in an airtight container to store.

Cookies can be stored at room temperature, in an airtight container, for 1 week to 10 days. They can also be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.