Chocolate Meringue Cookies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick to making meringue? ›

Beating the Egg Whites for Too Long

One of the most common mistakes is not beating the eggs long enough, or on too slow a speed, which means the egg whites won't reach stiff peak stage and instead only reach a soggy droopy stage.

You can't overbeat meringue: It's true! You can't ruin it by mixing too much, so once all of the sugar is added, be sure that your meringue is glossy and that you have super firm, stiff peaks when you remove the beater from the mixer. Don't be afraid to mix a little longer if it appears too soft.

Meringues can have a softer centre, depending on time/temperature of baking/drying (moisture retention = softer centre), but they won't be chewy. Chewy meringues, or pavlovas, have cornflour and vinegar added, which helps create that chewy centre.

Fat will cause your whites to not reach stiff peaks. Also, adding cream of tartar or a little lemon juice will help make a solid meringue. Your bowl and beaters should be totally clean and dry. Even one little fat molecule cannot touch the egg whites.

This is a good cookie to make in the evening; meringues can be left in the oven (with the heat turned off) overnight. Baking vegan? A good substitute for the egg whites in this recipe is aquafaba, the liquid drained from a can of chickpeas.

But not anymore: Now, I'm using my freezer to make meringues no matter the weather. No one is more thrilled than my uncle. The trick is to store the baked, cooled meringues in the freezer, where the dry, cold air prevents them from attracting moisture and losing their crispness.

To check if the meringue is done whipping, grab the whisk and swirl on the bottom of the bowl. You should feel some resistance against the whisk.

Italian meringue, like Swiss meringue, is cooked. It's the most stable of all three meringues, and it's ideal for buttercreams, piped decorations, topping tarts, and baking into cookies. Here, there's no double boiler involved.

Why do meringue cookies need to cool in the oven? ›

Meringues can crack because of the sudden change in temperature. To prevent this happening, turn the oven off when the meringues are cooked but leave them inside until completely cool.”

Over whip the egg whites and you risk making them too firm and they will risk losing the moisture that they hold. This will affect your meringue's crispness, as well as making it more likely to collapse or weep beads of sugar. As my meringue guru Gary Mehigan advises: “If you over whip the egg whites you cannot fix it.

It doesn't have to be perfect, but if there are too many undissolved pieces of sugar, it means it's not fully dissolved into the protein layer of the egg whites. When this happens, your meringues won't come out crisp and they might seep liquid during baking as the sugar melts out of the meringue.

To ensure that your meringue is sweet and not eggy, make sure to use fresh egg whites, beat them to soft peaks, add sugar gradually and make sure it's fully dissolved, and use appropriate amounts of vinegar or cream of tartar. You probably forgot to put the sugar and a tiny pinch of salt in when you were beating it.

TEXTURE OF MERINGUE COOKIES

I bake my Meringue Cookies for 1 hour, giving me perfectly crisp shells, with a deliciously fluffy and chewy centre. If you'd prefer more chewy cookies, bake them in a fan-forced oven. For fluffier centres, try a conventional oven.

Simply beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form (tips stand straight). This will take 4 to 5 minutes total.

Make sure the bowl and beaters are scrupulously clean and dry before using them. Add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar for every 2 egg whites to maximize volume and prevent them from drying out. Beat on high speed until soft peaks form, add sugar gradually, while beating to stiff peaks.