Recipe for Halloween Tombstone cookies

Recipe for Halloween Tombstone Cookies:

Difficulty: Moderate
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 5-6 minutes
Serves: 20 cookies

4 egg whites
1 heaping cup superfine sugar
1 cup Cheerios (original, honey nut, or multi-grain)
½ cup pecan pieces
Tube of black colored icing for garnishing

1.    In a blender or food processor, grind the Cheerios and pecans together until a moderately fine powder.  (If over-processed, the oil in the pecans will come out, thus causing the mixture to clump up.)  Reserve.
2.    Whip whites using the whisk attachment of a mixer.  (You can do this by hand, but it requires a lot of muscle.)  When the whites form soft peaks*, add 1/3 of the sugar.  Whip until the whites form firm peaks.  Take bowl off the mixer and fold in remaining sugar.  Fold in reserved Cherrie and pecan mixture.
3.    Place mixture in a pastry bag with a ¼-inch round opening.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Pipe 20 tombstones about ¼-inch thick on the parchment paper.  Try to pipe them as flat as possible.
4.    Bake in a 200º F oven (basically warm) for 5-6 hours or until the cookies are very dry and brittle.  
5.    Remove from oven, decorate with black icing and keep in an airtight container until ready to serve.  Warning:  These cookies are very susceptible to humidity and will soften unfavorably if exposed to humidity.  If the cookies do become soft, you can re-dry them again in the oven.
*To judge soft and firm peaks, turn off the mixer and pull the whisk from the egg whites.  When whipped to soft peak, the whites will form a point that will then curl over.  When whipped to firm peak, the whites will not curl over, but instead stand straight up.