Crunchy, light and sweet, these classic Meringue Cookies only take 5 ingredients and are perfect for your holiday cookie plates.
Meringue Cookies
A long time ago, a bunch of women in my neighborhood got together for a cookie swap. We each made a plate of cookies, then we split up all the cookies. So you came with your one kind of cookie, and left with a plate of a wide variety of cookies. I always think back to that, and what a great mix of cookies we all ended up with.
Since that cookie swap, every year I think about making the perfect cookie plate. And what cookies I would put on it. I would definitely want something soft, something sprinkled, and definitely something peppermint. And maybe even throw on a few homemade caramels. But you always need something light and crispy, as well, and that is where these Meringue Cookies come in.
For real – I love, love, love these cookies. Maybe they don’t look like much, and they don’t seem very exciting, but I could honestly eat a whole batch of these myself. And probably almost have. They are light, and sweet, and crispy and everything you’d want a meringue cookie to be. And they provide the perfect variety of texture on that cookie plate.
Ingredients in Meringue Cookies
One of the things I love about Meringue Cookies is that they only take 5 ingredients, and they are all super easy to find! All you need is:
- Egg whites – if you have time to let these sit out for 30 minutes, it’s even better.
- Vanilla extract – regular vanilla extract will cause the cookies to have a slight hint of brown to them. If you want to keep them bright white, use clear vanilla.
- Cream of Tartar – this helps to stabilize the egg whites.
- salt – just a dash is all you need!
- sugar – regular granulated works just fine in this recipe!
How to Make Meringue Cookies
This meringue cookie recipe is super simple, but they do take a little bit of time.
- Start by beating together the egg whites, vanilla, cream of tartar and dash of salt. Beat this until it gets frothy.
- Start adding in the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Continue beating until you have very stiff peaks.
- Pipe the batter onto a baking sheet.
- Bake for 35 minutes, then leave the cookies in the oven for at least an hour. I think it’s easiest to make these at night then just leave the cookies in the oven all night.
Tips for Making Meringue Cookies
See How to Make these Meringue Cookies here:
More Christmas cookie recipes
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Red Velvet Peppermint Gooey Butter Cookies
Chocolate Orange Ricotta Cookies
Chocolate Cherry Sandwich Cookies
Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Tools Used in this Recipe
I use these disposable piping bags. They make clean up so much easier!
To pipe the meringue cookies, I use an Ateco 846 tip.
You could probably make these cookies with a hand mixer, but I’d suggest a stand mixer. It’s much faster and easier, especially since the mixture gets beaten for 7 minutes.
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PinDescription
Crunchy, light and sweet, these classic Meringue Cookies only take 5 ingredients and are perfect for your holiday cookie plates.
Ingredients
- 3 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract*
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Dash of salt
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the vanilla extract, cream of tartar and salt. Turn the mixer on to high and mix until foamy. Start adding in the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Keep beating the mixture until it forms very stiff, glossy peaks, 7-10 minutes.
- Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe the meringue into small star cookies, about 1 1/4-inches in diameter. Sprinkle with holiday sprinkles, if desired.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, then turn the oven off, not opening the oven door, and let the cookies sit for at least an hour, or overnight.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container.
Notes
*the vanilla will slightly tint the cookies. If you’d like the cookies to remain a pure white, you can use clear vanilla.
Nutrition information provided as an estimate only. Various brands and products can change the counts. Any nutritional information should only be used as a general guideline.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cookies
- Calories: 18
- Sugar: 4 g
- Sodium: 21 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 4 g
- Fiber: 0 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: meringue cookies
Gina says
December 8, 2010 at 5:22 pmPerfect! My mom asked me to make her meringues for Christmas and I needed a recipe. Thanks!
Georgia (The Comfort of Cooking) says
December 8, 2010 at 5:42 pmI've never made meringues but have always wanted to try. I'm off to go check out your post! Thanks for sharing. Also, I’m having a cookies and cookbook giveaway today that you should enter!
Monet says
December 8, 2010 at 6:11 pmSo beautiful! I'm off to check this out because i've never made meringue cookies before! Thank you for sharing. I hope you have a lovely afternoon, my friend!
Darlene says
December 6, 2018 at 5:10 pmCan you use store brought egg whites?
Angel says
December 26, 2018 at 9:12 pmCan I add food coloring to this meringue recipe?
Deborah says
January 11, 2019 at 10:47 pmYou can!
Dorothy A Wild says
February 9, 2019 at 9:59 amPLEASE LIST ‘HOW MANY’ COOKIES YOUR RECIPE MAKES;THANKS.
Deborah says
February 13, 2019 at 2:42 pmHi Dorothy – the recipe should make about 74 cookies, depending on how big you pipe them. The amount is listed on the recipe card. I hope you love them!
Jennifer says
January 13, 2019 at 1:50 pmMaking these for PreK class this week! Growing up my mom called them forgotten cookies – put ’em in the oven and forget them!
Deborah says
January 14, 2019 at 7:16 amWhat a fun name!!
JenB says
March 30, 2019 at 1:37 pmJust don’t really forget about them … we’ve left them in, and then one of the kids turned the oven on to preheat for something else … oops!
Deborah says
March 31, 2019 at 1:28 amOh no!!!! I can totally see that happening to me – haha.
Sydney Hansen says
February 12, 2019 at 9:46 amI’m just wondering if there’s a set amount of sugar needed or if you just keep adding a tablespoon until the batter gets peaks. Thanks!!
Deborah says
February 13, 2019 at 2:41 pmHi Sydney – you will use the 2/3 cup sugar, just adding it in 1 tablespoon at a time until it has all been added.
dakota ryan says
February 14, 2019 at 3:15 pmis there any way to make these chocolate?
Deborah says
March 31, 2019 at 1:35 amI’m sure you probably could, but I haven’t tried it. I would probably start by adding some cocoa powder, and maybe some mini chocolate chips.
Lisa says
February 16, 2019 at 3:31 pmI made creme pat and had a bunch of egg whites left over. I hated to throw them out so I used them to make your recipe. They turned out great!
★★★★★
Deborah says
February 17, 2019 at 12:03 amYay! I’m so glad that they turned out well!
Anne Carpenter says
February 23, 2019 at 6:09 pmAnd I barely followed your recipe, but had those left over whites (6) and I used almond flavor…the real stuff, and they are unreal!
★★★★★
Li says
March 10, 2019 at 4:24 pmHi, what would you suggest for substituting for granulated sugar in this recipe?
By the way, I absolutely love this recipe; I’ve made it so many times already.
★★★★★
Deborah says
March 31, 2019 at 1:33 amI have only made them with granulated sugar, so I’m not sure of a good substitution. Sorry!
vy huynh says
March 19, 2019 at 4:18 pmHi,
When I add sprinkle to the cookie and bake it, the results come out that the sprinkle melts and make the cookie look bad. Do you know how I can fix it to get a nice cookie?
Deborah says
March 31, 2019 at 1:33 amAre you mixing the sprinkles into the batter or sprinkling them on top?
Linda says
March 27, 2019 at 9:08 amHI…I’m baking for a shower a month away, can these be frozen ?
Thanks !
★★★★★
Deborah says
March 31, 2019 at 1:31 amI don’t think you’d be able to freeze these, because the moisture from them defrosting would most likely ruin them. But they can be made several days in advance, so hopefully that will help!