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.
Vicki
Will carton egg whites work instead of separating eggs?vicki
Sam
Hi Vicki! I would check the particular carton, some specifically say that they are not suitable for whipping or making meringues. If the carton doesn’t say that then I don’t see any reason why carton egg whites wouldn’t work.
Ashley
Roughly how many does this yield?
Thanks in advance
Sam
Hi, Ashley. It will make about 40 meringues. 🙂
Chris H
Can you add chocolate chips on top?
Sam
I think that would be OK, I’d probably recommend using mini chocolate chips so they aren’t too heavy on the meringue. Enjoy!
Heidy Clark
I made these tonight, with the addition of Expresso powder, and they are amazing! First time ever making meringue cookies after loving them for decades. Used a hand held mixer. Great instructions. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Heidy! 🙂
Heidy Clark
Making more today using Christmas colors😊 Addicted? Yes 😊
Happy Holidays Sam
Sam
Happy Holidays to you too, Heidy!! 🙂
Kathy
If I do not have a piping bag can I put in a baggie and cut tip?
Sam
Yup, that will work! Enjoy! 🙂
Monica
can this be doubled?
Sam
It could be, but you’ll have a LOT of meringue, so much that it might be too much for your mixer. Also you should bake all of the cookies at once, so unless you can fit as many cookie sheets as would be needed for all that batter in your oven at once I’d recommend just making one batch at a time. Enjoy!
Liz
I love the idea of chocolate and meringues! I am curious your experience with using extract with alcohol in it. I have always found that if I use peppermint the whites don’t fluff up to peaks. It has occurred twice and I wonder if it is my method of making or something else. Do you have any experience or guidance?
Sam
I’ve never had that problem with my extracts but I also fold in the extract after my whites have reached stiff peaks. I would recommend adding it at that point, I actually shared a Peppermint bark meringue recipe on a friend’s site if you want to see how I did it there.
Kathy
Can I half the quantity if I wanna Make lesser cookies?
Sam
Yes that would be fine 🙂
Eve
What is the dimensions of a cookie on the cooking sheet?
Sam
Hi, Eve! They are about an inch and a half in diameter. 🙂
Viv
Would you happen to know how much lemon juice I could substitute the cream of tartar for? When I googled it, one place says 1 teaspoon of lemon juice can replace 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar while another site states 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice for each egg white. Based on your recipe I would be using either 1 or 2 teaspoons of lemon juice – do you think it’d make a huge difference between them in the final result? Thanks for your time! 🙂
Sam
I have not tried this particular substitution. If you want to try it, I have always understood it is 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice for every 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar. In this case you would end up using 1 teaspoon of lemon juice. Again I have not tried it so I can’t say for sure exactly how it will turn out. If you do try it, please let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Ed
I made this with a hand mixer. That’s all I have. It turned out perfect. Great recipe.
Sam
Thank you so much Ed! 🙂
Lylah
Splenda will not work well, it’s not the right type of sugar molecule, even though it’s made from sugar. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend eating more than 1 or 2 if the person eating them is diabetic, but realistically these are mostly air, there’s only 1 cup of sugar in the whole recipe. They have no nutritional value, but from a dieting perspective they’re very low calorie, and even for someone on a low carb diet there isn’t enough of anything per cookie to make them not worth the cheat 🙂 Also, DON’T CUT THE AMOUNT OF SUGAR! Recipe will not work if there isn’t the right ratio of egg-white to sugar!
Sandra Sanders
Can splenda be used instead of sugar?
Sam
Hi, Sandra. I am not familiar with using splenda so I don’t know how it would turn out. 🙁
CONNIE FREZZA
for the peppermint, it states 1/4 tsp peppermint extract….. do I omit the vanilla?
Sam
I use both, but you could if you would like.
Abel Barraza
What are ideas for the left over egg yolks?
Sam
Hi, Abel! You could make my Chocolate Pie. It takes 5 egg yolks and o man is it tasty! 🙂
Sandy
Egg nog..yum. we were making egg nog and used the leftover egg whites tomake these
Sam
Great suggestion! 🙂
Vesa
I make merengues, every time I make pumpkin pie. For the pie I use two eggs and two egg yolks so I always have two egg whites to make these with. Makes a perfect personal batch of about 20 merengues.
Suzanne Grodski
Since I make these for Christmas I use the yolks for my eggnog! It’s the 1 time of year I have use for both yolks and whites separately! Carbonara is another good use for them. Some quicker ways to to use them up is adding yolks to your dog’s food (great for them) and adding to protein (or milk) shakes for extra nutrition. Of course almost any recipe that uses eggs as a binder (such as meatloaf) can be subbed with yolks. 2 yolks=1 egg.
Katie
You can make a chocolate cremé pie with your extra yolks!
Sam
Definitely, I have a chocolate pie recipe if you want to check that out 🙂
Leslie
We make homemade mayonnaise that is so much better than store bought. Another idea is to make frozen custard which is basically ice cream with egg yolks which makes it so much richer.
Karen
Custard is a great use for left over egg yolks – and if you can turn it into ice cream, even better!
Warren
French vanilla custard – easy to make and hard to stop eating
Renee Brantley
Egg nog!