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.
Bobbie
I’ve used a few recipes to make these cookies and for some reason I can’t get them to work. This recipe is easy to follow and yielded beautiful lemon meringue cookies!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies, Bobbie! 🙂
Charles Loftine
Hi Sam,
Made these last night and they came out great. Used a carton of egg whites, no problem, and confectioners sugar, also no problem.
However, adding the vanilla made the color more brown. I’m wondering if there are different shades of vanilla out there?
Also, after stirring in the vanilla the peaks got softer. Can I continue to beat the mixture after adding vanilla or will that just soften the batch?
Thanks,
Charles
Sam
Hi Charles! To keep the crisp white flavor, they make a clear vanilla extract. I don’t know if you will be able to get the stiff peaks back. It sounds like the batter may have been slightly over-beaten and beating it more will just continue to deflate it. I hope you still love the cookies! 🙂
Kristy
O.M.G this was my first time ever making Meringue cookies and omg there sooooo yummy !!!
Sam
I am so happy to hear you enjoyed them, Kristy!! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Zay
hello, is it possible to use lemon juice instead of cream of tar tar for this recipe?
Sam
I haven’t tried it but I believe that this substitution could work
Nina
Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!! I made these for a school bake sale, and I mixed in pink and blue food dye so they looked like cotton candy 😀 They were so delicious and I love how simple this recipe is! Thank you!
Sam
You’re very welcome! So glad to hear they were such a success, they sound beautiful! 🙂
Owen
These came out so well
Sam
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the meringues, Owen! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Raz
Can these cookies be frozen?
Sam
Hi Raz! I have not tried freezing them, but I know others have with success. Make sure they cool completely and then store in an air tight container. 🙂
Zay
are you supposed to add 250 grams or 200???
Sam
Do you mean for the sugar? It’s 200 grams as indicated in the recipe.
vanessa
Is it possible to make it if my oven is a manual oven? (can’t control the temperature)
vanessa
nevermind :)! I figured it out haha
Trixie
Yeeeyyy!! My meringue cookies came out perfectly. I am very new to baking and i am searching how to bake and i came across your recipe. I don’t even know how to use the piping bag. Lol
Thank you very much for your recipe and all the tips that you mentioned. Pls make more recipe that would be helpful especially to a newbie like me.
5 stars for you and 5 thumbs up!
Thanks again!! 😍😍😍
Sam
Yay!!! Thank you so much, Trixie! I am glad you enjoyed the cookies. I have a lot of recipes that are delicious and have good instructions. Let me know if you have any questions and happy baking! 🙂
michele
How long will these last in an airtight container?
Sam
Hi Michele! They should be good for at least a week if they are exposed to very little moisture/humidity. 🙂
Julia
I used espresso extract instead of vanilla because I didn’t have any. They turned out the best I’ve ever made!
Sam
Sounds delicious! I’m so glad you enjoyed the meringues, Julia!
Summer
Could we add cocoa powder or would that not be sweet enough on its own?
Sam
I actually have a chocolate meringue cookie that uses cocoa powder if you want to check that out 🙂
Ida Williams
They came out great. I had some egg whites I had in the freezer from a recipe that required egg yolks so I saved the egg whites. I pulled them out of the freezer, let them come to room temperature and added the vanilla and some 60% chocolate chips. It was a hit in my home. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Ida! 🙂
👍
These meringues came out great!!!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed! 🙂
Helen
I have the carton of pasteurized egg whites. Are these suitable to use, and what would be an equivalent quantity? Thanks.
Sam
Hi Helen! check the side of the packaging, it should say if it is capable of whipping to stiff peaks or not (which is critical to this recipe). I don’t usually bake with this type of egg white but from what I found on Google, one large egg white should be equivalent about 2 Tablespoons of egg whites (so you would need 1/2 cup egg whites).