A classic recipe for meringue cookies! These little meringues only call for 5 ingredients, and at under 25 calories a pop they are easily the lightest recipe on my blog! The technique takes a little bit of practice, and a long time in the oven, but I’ll walk you through the steps in the recipe so that you can make your own perfect meringues!
Sweet & Simple Meringue Cookies
I have another recipe for your holiday cookie tray today — classic meringue cookies!
Meringues only require 5 ingredients to make, but they can be a little bit finicky — even the weather can affect them. Winter is a great time to try them out, as you’re much less likely to have a very humid day this time of year, and humidity is one of the greatest nemesis of meringue cookies.
I’ve been making this recipe over and over again the past few months to make sure that I understood all of the ins and outs of making perfect meringue cookies, and I’m finally ready to share what I’ve learned with you, so that you too can make these addictive little meringue cookies.
If you’ve never had one, meringues are light, airy cookies with crisp interiors. I’m sharing a classic vanilla meringue recipe today (with notes on how to add your own different flavors!). The taste always reminds me of marshmallow 😍.
Making Meringue: Stiff Peaks
This recipe calls for four egg whites and a single cup of sugar. That may not seem like it’s going to yield you very many meringues when you start, but you’ll be surprised by how much these ingredients increase in volume.
As you add the sugar, the mixture will become thick, glossy, and sticky, that’s exactly what you are looking for! You’ll also want the mixture to achieve stiff peaks — that’s how you’ll know that it’s done.
If you’ve made my angel food cake, whipped cream, or Swiss meringue buttercream before, then you’re already familiar with the concept of stiff peaks. It means that when you turn the batter over (like you can see in the image below with the meringue cookie batter), the peak that forms stands tall and does not fold back into itself. I’ve included a video in today’s post so you can see exactly how the meringue should look, in case you haven’t ever made meringue before.
Tips for No-Fail Meringue Cookies
- Make sure that the bowl and beater that you are using to beat your meringue is completely grease and moisture free. Any moisture can ruin your meringues.
- Crack your eggs in a separate bowl when separating the whites. Even a tiny bit of yolk can ruin your meringues, so crack each egg in a small bowl before adding it to the bowl that you will be mixing the meringue batter in.
- Add the sugar gradually, one Tablespoon at a time, and give it a chance to dissolve before adding more.
- You can test that the sugar is completely absorbed by taking a small bit of the batter and rubbing it between your fingers — if it’s not, it’ll feel gritty.
- Don’t stop until you get stiff peaks. The batter will take several minutes, at least, of beating to achieve stiff peaks, but keep going. It will increase in volume and be very thick and glossy — that’s what you’re looking for! See the photo above or the video for a visual.
- Don’t over-beat your batter, either! Once you hit stiff peaks, stop! You can stir in your extract and any food coloring at this point, but don’t push it because over-beating the batter is just as bad as not beating it enough.
- If you’ve found that your meringues have gotten soft after you finished baking them, you can actually pop them back in the oven at 225F for another 10-20 minutes (watch them, if they begin to turn golden brown around the edges turn off the heat immediately) and then let them cool in the oven for another hour, this has always worked for me with meringues that start to get chewy.
Adding Color and Other Flavoring
Once you get the hang of making meringues, feel free to play with lots of different flavors and colors — I made these Peppermint Bark Meringues by adding ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract, striping the piping bag with red food coloring (I used a clean paintbrush that I only use for baking), and dipping the baked, cooled meringue cookies in dark chocolate and crushed peppermint pieces!
Enjoy!
More Christmas Treats You Might Like:
Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 large egg whites room temperature
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract¹
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225F (105C) and line a large cookie sheet (or two regular-sized cookie sheets -- make sure they will fit in your oven together) with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a large, completely clean, completely grease-free bowl².4 large egg whites, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Using an electric mixer or a stand mixer (with either the whisk or paddle attachment), stir on low speed until mixture becomes foamy.
- Increase speed to high.
- With mixer on high, gradually add sugar, about 1 Tablespoon at a time, stirring after each addition until sugar is dissolved (about 15-20 seconds between each addition).1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- Beat until mixture is thick, shiny, and has increased in volume. Mixture should have stiff peaks and sugar should be completely dissolved (you can test this by rubbing a small bit of the mixture between your fingers, if it feels gritty, the sugar isn't dissolved).
- Stir in vanilla extract and any other extract you may like to use. If using food coloring, add the food coloring at this stage, too.1 teaspoon vanilla extract¹
- Fit a large disposable piping bag with a large tip (I used Ateco 846, but any large star tip will work or you can just snip the edge of the piping bag for a “kiss” formation) and transfer meringue to prepared piping bag and pipe onto prepared cookie sheet. The meringue cookies can be pretty close to each other as they won’t spread, and you will want to bake all of the cookies at the same time, so make sure you make enough space.
- Bake on 225F (105C) for 1 hour. Turn off the oven once the baking time has passed, and do not open the oven. Leave the oven door closed and allow cookies to cool completely in the oven (1-2 hours) before removing.
- Meringue cookies should be crisp and can be stored in an airtight container. Keep away from heat and moisture as it can soften your meringues.
Notes
Recipes to use those leftover egg yolks:
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Myra
Truly the best meringue cookie recipe I’ve ever tried, and I’ve tried a bunch. The directions are specific enough to get great results even for beginners but still leave room to play around for experienced bakers. It makes the perfect amount of cookies to both keep some and share. I can’t recommend this recipe enough!
MJCarter
I have been using this recipe for years and sometimes they just don’t turn out. I tried using the hot sugar syrup method also and I think yours is best because there is NO water introduced. I make mushrooms and acorns with the meringue. No tip on the bag. I make stems, caps, acorn shapes. When cool, I make a small hole in the bottom of the caps with a paring knife and dip the stem in melted chocolate and stick them together. For the acorns, I grate walnuts in a small bowl, melt chocolate in a small bowl and dip the acorn base in the chocolate, then the walnuts. Let them set and use to decorate a Yule Log. They disappear really fast!
Candice
Hey!
I’m so excited to try these, are you able to use super fine white sugar (caster sugar) if so, how much would you use?
Thanks! 😊
Sam Merritt
Hi Candice! You can use caster sugar. You will want to use the same amount. 🙂
Stephanie
Never made these in my life! This turned out great! Quite delicious. Best description I could give is a little less sweet version of a dehydrated marshmallow. My family will enjoy these. Thank you.
Joice
Hi, I tried and it tastes good. I took them out from the oven after over an hour. They were dry as I started to pack them into small Ziploc bags. However, they slowly got sticky and stickier. I got pretty frustrated as I had 24 bags to pack for a school fund raising event. Do you know what went wrong and how to avoid this? much appreciated!
Sam Merritt
Hi Joice! Was there any moisture introduced to them? Are you in a humid environment? They shouldn’t turn really sticky really fast. 🙁
Joice
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your responses. I live in California. I started packing once taking the pan out of the oven. My fingers got a little bit sticky within 5 minutes and it got worse. Was it because the cookies were not fully cooling down? I left it inside for at least an hour after 1 hour baking.
Sam Merritt
Yes they need to cool completely before packing away. 🙁
Annette DREW
How long can I store them for? How far in advance from Christmas can I make them?
Sam Merritt
Hi Annette! They can stay in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. If they become soft and sticky you can place them back in the oven for a few minutes. They can be stored in an air tight container in the freezer for several months. The only thing to note is that humidity is the enemy of meringues so try to store them in a cool dry place. 🙂
Donna Dickinson
perfect every time love making theses at Christmas my third year my kids love them i do add the peppermint and dipped chocolate ♥️
Isla
When I make the meringue the batter won’t whip up into a creamy thick batter with stiff peaks. Why would that be happening? Hoping I can make them turn out
Sam Merritt
Hi Isla! Are you using egg whites from the carton? They tend to not whip properly? Has any moisture been introduced anywhere, in the bowl, the beater? Is it humid where you are? Did you accidentally get any yolk in with the egg whites? I would just keep mixing and see if they start to develop a little more. 🙂
S
Takes a white, 10-15ish minutes and that’s in a kitchen aid mixer.
Cheri
Hi. Are you making sure you start with room temperature egg whites? I find they don’t stiffen as well if they are not un-cold enough.
Shawna
Love these!!! Been following this easy recipe for years!!
Cheri
When using food coloring, does it need to be powdered, gel, or is the standard wet type okay?
Sam Merritt
Hi Cheri! I personally prefer gels to the liquid. I’ve never used powders, but that would be a good option as well. 🙂
Kayla
hi, how much does 1 egg white weigh?
Sam Merritt
About 30g. 🙂
Egg
Hello, is there a substitute for cream of tartar? Google says use lemon juice but lemon juice is not a solid and yeah, any ideas? And i don’t want a lot of cookies so is it okay if i just use half of all ingredients. And i want to make them chocolate flavored so how much cocoa powder
Sam Merritt
Some people will add a splash of lemon juice or vinegar. You could also omit the cream of tartar. I do have a chocolate meringue recipe you can check out. 🙂
Egg
Okay Thank you, I’ll try both.