Today on Sugar Spun Run I'll be showing you how to make Meringue Cookies.
Hey Sugar Spun Bakers, Sam here and today I'm going to be showing you one of my most popular and probably
even most unique cookie recipes on the blog. This meringue cookie recipe has been around for a few years now.
It's already received hundreds of 5 star reviews. It's about time I share it in video form.
So to get started you want to preheat your oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Next we are going to grab 4 eggs.
Now for today's recipe we are only going to be using the egg whites.
If you want to save the yolks, I will link to some recipes below that you can use. That way you don't have to just toss the yolks.
Now egg whites can kinda be a little bit of a pain in the butt to work with.
Anytime you are working with them it is very important that any surface they touch be completely clean
completely dry, and completely grease free. If not then your egg whites are probably not going to whip to stiff
peaks like we need them to do for today's meringues.
Another important tip, you do not want to get even a tiny bit of yolk in with your egg white.
If that happens, you are going to need to toss that egg white out, because it's been contaminated
and that little bit of yolk will also keep the whites from whipping up to stiff peaks.
Now I always crack my eggs into a separate bowl than the bowl I'll be mixing them in.
because if I get a tiny bit of yolk in there, I don't want to have to toss out all of my egg whites. I just have to lose one.
I do recommend that you use room temperature eggs for this recipe.
I'm going to be saving the yolks to make creme brulee later. I'll link to that recipe below.
Now if you see that stringy white protein in your egg white, you do want to make sure that goes in with the
rest of your egg white, and goes in your mixing bowl. It's going to help your meringues whip up properly.
Now if you haven't made meringue cookies before, you probably don't want your first try to be on a rainy day.
The humidity can keep your egg whites from whipping properly and can make your meringues soft inside.
One of the nice thing about meringue cookies is that you only need a few ingredients to make them.
You need your egg whites, a little bit of salt, cream of tartar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract.
The vanilla extract is optional, I just really like to use it because it gives the cookies a nice marshmallowy flavor.
We are going to be adding 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar in with our egg whites.
And 1/8 teaspoon of salt
We are just going to whip this together until the mixture becomes foamy.
I am using my whisk attachment today, you can use a paddle attachment instead. Either is completely fine.
And I am just stirring these together on low speed at this point.
I really prefer using my KitchenAid whenever I'm making meringue, just because there is a lot of whipping involved.
but you could use an electric hand mixer if you have the patience.
My cream of tartar is sticking to the sides so I am going to use a completely clean, completely dry,
grease free spatula, just to kind of loosen that up a little bit.
Once it's nice and foamy we are going to gradually increase the speed up to high.
Alright, once your mixer is going at high speed, you are going to want to grab your sugar.
You'll need 1 cup of granulated sugar for this recipe, and we are just going to be adding it
about a tablespoon at a time.
So we will keep our mixer running on high speed and we are going to continue to stir the sugar into
the egg mixture until it's dissolved. That's going to take about 15 - 20 seconds.
Don't try to rush this process or your sugar won't dissolve and your meringues won't turn out properly.
A good way to tell that your sugar has dissolved is just to listen. You can hear the paddle or the whisk scraping
the side of the bowl and you can usually hear a little bit of grit from the sugar.
If you are not hearing that, you are usually safe to add your next tablespoon of sugar.
It's a lot easier if you are using a metal bowl rather than a glass, but it still works here.
About halfway through I like to pause to scrape the bowl just so that any sugar that's formed on
the side will get knocked back down and nicely incorporated into the meringue.
Once you've added all of your sugar you are going to want to continue to beat until your meringue
is thick and shiny and has increased in volume. Now you also want to make sure that all of the sugar has been incorporated.
and there are no grains left in the meringue. A good way to test this is just to take a little bit of it
and rub it between your fingers. If you feel any granules, if it feels a little bit gritty, the sugar is
not completely incorporated. Mine is not completely incorporated at this point, so we are going to continue to beat it until the sugar's dissolved.
Alright, I let this go for about another minute, another two minutes so lets feel it again.
Much better. Now if you want to add any flavorings or food coloring you want to add them at this point.
I am going to be using vanilla extract. This is just a teaspoon of vanilla, and I'll stir it in now.
You could mix this in by hand, I'm just going to mix it in with my mixer on low speed.
And just briefly whip this together. It is possible to over-beat meringue, so you don't want to
push it once you get to that point where your sugars dissolved and your mixture is nice and thick and glossy.
So we are ready to pipe these at this point so I'm going to transfer this batter to a large piping bag.
And I have fitted mine with an Atteco 846 tip. You can really use any tip you'd like. This is just my preferred.
Now this recipe makes a lot of meringues and they take a really long time to bake
So I like to cook them all at the same time. So if you have a large baking pan, I recommend using one.
If you use two cookie sheets instead, that will work, you might just need to increase the baking time a little bit.
Make sure to adjust your oven rack to lower and middle racks, if using two.
If just using one rack, you are going to want to use the center rack.
Now these meringue cookies should not spread in the oven at all so you can actually place them pretty close to each other while you're piping them.
The meringues I am piping today are about an inch wide and an inch tall.
If you make yours larger they will need a little more time to bake. If yours are a little smaller they will need a little less time.
Another bonus of these cookies is they are only about 25 calories.
We'll take these over to our 225 degree Fahrenheit preheated oven where they are going to need to bake
for one hour. Once that hour has passed, you are going to want to turn off your oven and let them sit another 1 to 2 hours.
or until they are dried completely. You'll know their finished because they are nice and crisp if you cut into or bite into them
Now meringue cookies should generally be crisp when you bite into them
If you have found that yours have gone soft, there are a couple of different reasons that might have happened.
Usually it's the humidity, but you can fix that. Just preheat your oven back to 225 degree Fahrenheit.
Pop your meringues back in the oven for about 10 - 20 minutes. Watch them. If you are beginning to turn golden brown they are getting cooked too much.
And then just turn off your oven and let them sit in there for another hour.
That usually does the trick to dry them back out and make them nice and crisp again.
And that's all there is to making meringue cookies at home. I hope if you were intimidated by the thought of these cookies.
before, this video helped put your mind at ease. They are actually pretty simple, just a little bit of technique involved.
If you try this one out, please leave me a comment. Let me know what you think. I always love hearing from you.
Thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you next time.
Nice and crisp. Kind of makes me think of a nice marshmallow.