Simple Meringue Cookies
Meringue cookies are incredibly light, ethereal cookies made from whipped egg whites and sugar. These simple meringue cookies will melt in your mouth and tantalize your sweet tooth!
This easy meringue cookie recipe will become one of your favorites. Make a batch of Egg White Cookies whenever you half leftover egg whites!
Simple Meringue Cookies
This meringue cookie recipe can be jazzed up with food colors and flavorings, but these are the most basic, simple meringue cookies. Only 4 ingredients and a few steps and these melt in your mouth gems will be ready to eat! Spotting this elegant Strawberry Meringues Recipe from Pint Sized Baker reminded me that an ordinary meringue cookie recipe can be the base for an amazing dessert as well as scrumptious egg white cookies!
A Versatile Easy Meringue Cookies Recipe
These meringue cookies will be incorporated into a fabulous Strawberry Eton Mess dessert to be revealed on Sunday, so I didn’t add any vanilla to keep them a beautiful, pure white color. But just think of all the options with these egg white cookies: green for St. Patrick’s Day, pink with peppermint extract for Valentine’s Day, pastel colors for Easter! A fun cookie any time of the year!
Tips for Making the Best Meringue Cookies
I’ve been making meringue since I was a teen. Lemon meringue pie was one of my specialties, and my family was brave enough to eat it! I’m not certain I knew all the tricks for the making the best meringues in those days, but I have learned a few tips along the way. Use these guidelines for your own simple meringue cookies as well as to top cream pies and more!
- Room temperature egg whites will give your meringue cookies more volume and help the sugar dissolve more easily.
- Superfine sugar will dissolve more easily than regular granulated sugar. If you don’t have any in your pantry, just whiz up some regular sugar in your food processor (not so much that it becomes powdered sugar, though).
- For perfect meringues, add the sugar slowly. Don’t rush the process.
- PRO-Tip: Make sure your mixing bowl and beater are scrupulously clean. Any speck of oil (this includes any egg yolk) will prevent the whites from becoming white and billowy.
- So that you don’t get any egg yolks in your whites when separating your eggs, make sure to crack them on a flat surface (not the edge of your bowl) and separate them while cold (right out of the refrigerator).
- It’s also wise to not separate them over a bowl of egg whites as that almost always guarantees that a little yolk will contaminate the other whites and you ‘ll have to start over!
- To keep them your egg white cookies a pristine white, not even a splash of vanilla was added, but feel free to include a little if that’s your preference. Vanilla meringue cookies are also wonderful to eat on their own or use in a recipe!
- Cooled Vanilla Meringue Cookies can be stored 2 weeks or longer in an airtight container at room temperature and longer if they’re in the freezer.
Frequently Asked Questions About Egg White Cookies
How Should I Store Meringues?
The goal is to keep your cooled and baked meringue cookies away from humidity. They should be packed in airtight containers and can be stored at room temperature, in the refrigerator or in the freezer.
How Long Do Meringue Cookies Last?
When stored in a cool dry place, meringue cookies stay fresh for up to 2 weeks. If frozen, they can last a couple months.
Why Did My Meringue Fail?
Meringue can be very finicky. The most common reason for meringue failure is getting oil or grease into the egg white mixture. This can be from a little grease in the mixing bowl or beater or even a small speck of egg yolk contaminating the egg whites. The egg whites also must be beaten before starting to slowly add the sugar. Over beating the egg whites until they look dry can also cause a meringue failure.
What to Make with Leftover Egg Yolks:
You can always add some extra yolks to a big batch of Sunday morning scrambled eggs, but here are some more egg yolk recipe ideas for you. Any creme brulee recipe will work like my Classic Creme Brulee which uses 7 egg yolks or my White Chocolate Creme Brulee which uses 4 yolks. Irish Cream Pots de Creme use 6 egg yolks. You’ll be set with two marvelous desserts if you make these simple meringue cookies, then a rich dessert made with the leftover yolks!
What to Serve with These Simple Meringue Cookies
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Strawberry Meringues Recipe from Pint Sized Baker
- Classic Lemon Meringue Pie
- Meringue Topped Chocolate Chip Bars
- Layered Chocolate Meringue Cake
- Meringue Topped Banana Pudding
- Chocolate Velvet Pie with Meringue Crust
- Strawberry Souffle Recipe
- Fresh Strawberry Meringue Cake
- Chocolate Meringues
- Strawberry Eton Mess
- Slow Cooker Apple Crisp
- One Layer Fudge Cake
- Traditional English Trifle
- Mascarpone Cheese
- More Best Dessert Recipes
- More Best Cookie Recipes
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Simple Meringue Cookies
Sweet, ethereal, easy meringue recipe made with just 4 simple ingredients.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert, Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- A pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup sugar, superfine preferred, but not necessary
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225º Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper.
- Place egg whites into a mixing bowl and beat until frothy. Add the cream of tartar, the pinch of salt, and beat until soft peaks form. With mixer running, slowly add sugar, one tablespoon at a time until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form.
- Pipe or scoop tablespoons of the meringue onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing approximately 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 45 minutes, then turn oven off. Without opening the door, let stand in oven for 1 hour (so the total time in the oven is 1 hour, 45 minutes but it’s only turned on for the first 45 minutes).
Notes
Once your meringues have cooled to room temperature, store in an airtight container.
Yield varies depending on the size of your meringue cookies.
Wow these cookies look incredible! Yummy treat!
Thank you so much for all the tips!! I can’t wait to try them – it’s hard to make meringues look so perfect!
★★★★★
This recipe is awesome!
★★★★★
Great recipe that taste Awesome! I like that it is simple and sweet without added flavoring. Flavoring such as vanilla, almond, lemon, etc can be added depending on mood. I just like it plain.
★★★★★
Nice simple recipe. I’ve tried a few different meringue cookie recipes and this one is by far my favorite.
★★★★★
Thanks so much for letting me know! Enjoy your weekend!
Hi Liz
I tried your recipe and was very impressed with the consistency of the meringue mix. The only problem is that I work in degrees celcius. I noticed afterwards that you didn’t specify which unit of measurement you were using. It’s the first time I’ve made meringues by myself and I forgot that you need a low temperature. I burnt my attempt pretty quickly 🙈 Most baked goods are done at 180°c so when I saw 225° I didn’t think twice. My bad! I’m definitely going to try your recipe again, after I buy more castor sugar. 😊
★★★★
Oh, darn it! I think you’ll love these baked at the proper temperature!
Just made these delicious yummy melt in your mouth bites! Super easy… thank you!
I’m so glad, Helen! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
What size piping tip do you use? Eager to male these as my mom loves them.
Thank you for sharing.
Hi, Tabitha,
It’s been a while since I’ve made these, but generally I use a larger tip like an open star tip. Hope your mom enjoys!
Have always wanted to make these! This recipe is a winner!
★★★★★
I love meringue cookies! They are so pretty and light, and can have flavors added so simply. Great recipe!
★★★★★
So simple and so delicious! A perfect win-win in my book!
★★★★★
I love a meringue – that light airy crisp and so many ways you can flavor them. I definitely need to face my fear of these and just make a batch this season!
★★★★★
After the meringues have baked for 45 min, do you leave them in the oven for 15min so it totals 1 hour or for an hour after the 45 min bake time?
Thanks! Excited to make these!
Great question. I can see how it would be confusing the way I wrote it. These meringues need and extra hour in the oven after the 45 minute baking time. That will help them dry out nicely. Hope you enjoy!!
Liz, can I bake two cookie sheets at a time in the oven? In other words, will it affect the cookies if they bake at different spaces from the heating elements?
Cathy, in general, I don’t recommend it. If you have a convection oven, it should be OK, but turn down the temperature by 25 degrees. Hope this helps!
Hi, will make these as they they look great but is that 180 degs for a fan oven?
Hi, Lynda, the rule of thumb is to reduce the temperature by 25 degrees when using a convection/fan setting. I’d set the temperature at 200 degrees. I haven’t tried this recipe with my convection setting, but it should work. Hope you enjoy!
Made these for first time last night for a party. With your tips, these were amazingly simple to make, despite horror stories I’ve heard about the difficulty, and I am no baker for sure. My young kids even joke about me catching kitchen on fire and my “crispy cooking”-lol
They were a hit at party served plain and with berries and will be my new go-to dessert! My British husband is quite picky about desserts and these were perfect. Can’t wait to make them again!
Thank you!!!!!
★★★★★
Oh, I am so glad they worked so well for you, Tracy! Thanks so much for letting me know and happy new year to you!!
Hi! extremely simple recipe, just a question is the oven temperature in Farenheit or Celsius?
The temperature is in Fahrenheit. You’re not the first to ask, so I’ll go make a note of it in the recipe. Hope you enjoy, Tania!
Made these today with some leftover egg whites that were puzzling me! I made some ad how modifications, but I can’t believe how forgiving and lovely this recipe is! Seriously going to be my go-to meringue, even for pies, because I was eating it straight from the piping bag!
I had 6 egg whites (I had made custard last week) so I was going to try to measure out 4 tbsp, but they kind of all fell in the bowl. Then, I was measuring my sugar and was afraid of using the last cup in the house (in case the Queen visits?) so I swapped for confectioner’s sugar. That all said, it made a TON…. I misjudged my time and had to leave for school pickup before the cook time was finished, so I vented the oven for the drying cycle after only 35 minutes. When I came back, some bigger ones were still chewy, so I recooked them another 10 minutes, vented another hour, and they were perfect! In hindsight, the only thing I shouldn’t have done was leave them in while the oven re-pre-heated because the ones on the bottom rack got a bit toasty. But actually the brown ones taste so good, even if they’re not as angelic-looking!
Thank you for this easy peasy recipe/method even though I ended up off the rails, it worked!
★★★★★
You are a rock star!! Thanks for your thorough and terrific review 🙂
Update: these are amazing as a breakfast cereal topping, since they totally remind me of the tiny marshmallows some brands have.
Next time I have spare egg whites, I’m making minis specifically for that purpose!
Best meringue recipe I’ve tried so far.
Thank you😋
I’m SO glad! Thanks for reporting back!!!
Hi! I was wondering if it is needed to leave the meringues in the oven after they bake. Also, if it is needed, then what is the purpose for that? Thanks!!
Hi, Kaiya,
That step helps dry out the meringues so that they are crisp. Humidity can wreak havoc on meringues, so it’s another way to make sure they’re perfectly crisp and will melt in your mouth. If the texture doesn’t matter to you, you can certainly skip this step 🙂 Good question!
Hi Liz,
Meringues are my favorite treat. Im excited to try this recipe tomorrow but I’d like to add vanilla extract and was wondering how much to add? Also, is the cream of tartar necessary? Curious because it’ll keep me from making them until I get to the store.
Hi, Kerissa,
I’d add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. The cream of tartar stablizes the egg whites, so I’d definitely pick some up so you get perfect meringues the first time 🙂 Hope you enjoy!!!