These gorgeous pink meringue cookies are light and airy and perfect. They’re also really simple and fun to make and melt in your mouth!
I used to think of meringue as something that must be really difficult and intimidating to make. Luckily I was wrong about that.
It’s really easy to make gorgeous meringue cookies. They do take a while to make because they bake for an hour and then you have to let them sit in the oven after baking (with it switched off) for another hour.
So it does tie up your oven for 2 hours, but if you don’t have anything else planned for the oven, they’re really easy and fun to make.
How To Make Meringue Cookies
Full instructions and measurements can always be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add egg whites and cream of tartar to the bowl of your stand mixer. Starting at slow speed, gradually increase to medium speed until the mixture becomes foamy.
- Now increase the speed to high and let it whip until white and creamy.
- Start pouring in your sugar slowly, while the mixer runs.
- Add in your vanilla extract and keep whipping it until you have stiff peaks and a very thick marshmallow like texture.
- Add in your food coloring if you’re using it and whip it again briefly to spread the color through.
- Add the mixture to a piping bag and pipe out onto a parchment lined baking tray. The cookies can be quite close together as they don’t really spread much at all when baking.
- Bake for an hour at 220°F (105°C) and then switch the oven off, but don’t open the door and let them sit in the oven for another hour.
- Now your meringues are ready!
Recipe Notes
Cream of tartar: This helps stabilize your egg whites and helps the whole process to go faster. It’s possible to make meringue without it, but it’s not recommended.
The Sugar: We used regular white granulated sugar. You can also use superfine sugar (also called caster sugar). It’s ideal if the sugar dissolves when you’re whisking it into the egg whites. However, I don’t find this to be essential. If you use superfine sugar, then it easily dissolves, but if you use granulated sugar, it takes longer and I don’t personally find it necessary to wait for it to dissolve. There might be a little more crunch in your meringue, but this is only a good thing in my view!
Vanilla Extract: If you want your meringues to be white then use a clear vanilla extract. If you’re planning to color them pink or another color, then regular vanilla extract will do fine.
Food Coloring: This is entirely optional. We used a ¼ teaspoon of liquid red food coloring to make these meringues pink. If you’re using a gel food coloring then you can use much less.
Flavorings: If you want to flavor them, say with some peppermint extract or lemon extract then you can do it! Just reduce the vanilla by half and add in ¼ teaspoon of your flavoring extract in its place.
Pro Tips
- Make sure you separate your egg whites correctly, there can’t be any yolk mixed in or your egg whites may not want to whip up properly.
- Add the sugar slowly while the mixer is running.
- Be patient, you need it to get to that really thick, marshmallow like consistency before it’s ready to pipe!
- Pipe it right away as soon as your mix is ready. Don’t let the meringue mixture sit around or it will start to deflate and lose its structure.
Storing and Freezing
Meringues are very sensitive to humidity. They become sticky and chewy. But this is very easily fixed by placing them into the fridge.
You can either store them in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of weeks or you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of weeks. But if there is any humidity around, then the fridge is going to be the best place to store them.
They are also freezer friendly for months! Just make sure they’re in an airtight container or ziplock freezer bags.
More Delicious Desserts
Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 Large Egg Whites
- ¼ tsp Cream of Tartar
- ½ cup White Granulated Sugar or Superfine Sugar*
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- ¼ tsp Red Food Color Liquid, Optional*
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220°F (105°C). Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Add the egg whites and cream of tartar to the bowl of your stand mixer. Starting at slow speed, gradually increase to medium speed until the mixture becomes foamy.
- Increase the speed to high and let it whip until white and creamy.
- Start pouring in your sugar slowly, while the mixer runs.
- Add in your vanilla extract and keep whipping until you have stiff peaks and a very thick marshmallow like texture.
- Add in your food coloring if you're using it and whip it again briefly to spread the color through.
- Add the mixture to a piping bag and pipe it out onto the prepared baking tray. The cookies can be quite close together as they don't really spread much when baking.
- Bake for an hour and then switch off the oven, but don't open the door. Let them sit in the oven for another hour before removing them from the oven.
Video
Notes
- Make sure you separate your egg whites correctly, there can’t be any yolk mixed in or your egg whites may not want to whip up properly.
- You can either use white granulated sugar or superfine sugar (also called caster sugar). Superfine sugar dissolves very easily so it’s a good choice, but I also find white granulated sugar to work great even if you don’t get it all the way dissolved. It just creates more crunch to your meringues!
- If you want your meringues to be white then use a clear vanilla extract.
- If you want pink meringues then just note that you would need much less of a gel food coloring than you would of a liquid food coloring. Just add it in carefully and you’ll see when you’ve got the right color.
- Keep them stored in an airtight container in the fridge or at room temperature where they will stay good for 2 weeks or longer. If there is any humidity though then the fridge is the best place to store them as they can get sticky/chewy in response to humidity. Placing them in the fridge fixes that quickly though.
- They are also freezer friendly for four months if you want to freeze them.
hi, l wonder if l can replace a cream of tartar with some other ingredient, lemon juice, for example.
here in my place there is nowhere to find.
thank you for your response
renata
Hi Renata, apparently white distilled vinegar or lemon juice can be substitutes, so you would use 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to replace the 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar. I haven’t tested these options though so I can’t be entirely sure how well they would work.
So easy to make and so good! I was amazed. Thanks for the clear, easy instructions!
So glad it was easy to follow, thanks Maddie!