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These Lemon Meringue Cookies contain just a hint of lemon and melt in your mouth—you won’t be able to stop at just one!
Lemon Meringue Cookies
Hi all! Ann from Bake du Jour here again. 😄
Let’s talk about these Lemon Meringue Cookies. The recipe is pretty simple, but it does require some precision. I promise it’s nothing you can’t handle!
Of course I had to go with another citrus recipe this time around—I mean hellooo it’s almost summer! I’m already drooling a little bit just thinking about my Lemon Lavender Cupcakes, Lemon Lavender Cupcakes and Coconut Lime Bars!
All things lemon! Try some of our other amazing lemon desserts
- Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Cake
- Cream Cheese Lemon Bars
- Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins
- Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
How to make meringue cookies
I love meringue cookies because:
1. They seriously melt in your mouth.. which means the calories practically don’t count, right?
2. They’re SO adaptable. Not a huge fan of lemon? Throw a bit of cocoa powder into the batter and you’ve got chocolate meringue cookies! I like to think of meringue cookies as the choose-your-own-adventure cookie.
The first thing to keep in mind that the building block of meringue cookies are whipped egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar. And when you whip the egg whites, you’re looking for glossy, stiff peaks. Like, to the point where you can hold the mixing bowl above your head and the meringue doesn’t move an inch. Seriously!
As for cream of tartar, it’ll help to stabilize the whipped egg whites to ensure that they don’t lose their volume. We’re looking for volume here, people!
Once everything comes together, you’ll want to transfer the meringue into a piping bag. The meringue will be fluffy enough that you can spoon it onto your cookie sheet, but to ensure uniformity, I prefer using the piping bag.
As for the tip, I used my Ateco 32 star piping tip, but you are more than welcome to use whichever tip you like. With this tip, I got almost 10 dozen meringue cookies (yep, you read that right), so feel free to go ahead and use a bigger piping tip or cut the recipe in half if you need to!
Also, don’t worry about piping them too far apart from each other. Meringue doesn’t spread in the oven, so feel free to get ’em nice and close to each other. The photo above should serve as a reference point!
While meringue cookies are tiny little things, they do require a long baking time—the motto here is to keep things low and slow. You’ll be baking these at 225F for about an hour; that gives these babies enough time to crisp up.
Even though the bake time is a little long, meringue cookies are so airy (seriously, they are like little clouds!) that they cool really quickly. Once you’ve gone through the initial cooling phase and you take them out of the oven, they should be ready to eat within a matter of minutes! Go ahead and treat yourself to one or two, or ten. I won’t judge you. 😉
Lemon Meringue Cookies
These Lemon Meringue Cookies contain just a hint of lemon and melt in your mouth—you won't be able to stop at just one!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 4 large egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
Instructions
Preheat oven to 225F and line baking sheet with silicone baking mat/parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
Place the egg whites, cream of tartar, and vanilla extract into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Begin whisking at medium-high speed until the mixture is foamy.
Gradually add the sugar mixture and lemon zest and continue whisking at medium-high speed until stiff peaks have formed. The mixture should also be glossy at this point.
Fill the piping bag with the meringue and pipe onto the baking sheet; pull up on the piping bag to create the tip. Remember: they don't need to be piped too far apart!
Bake for 60-70 minutes. The cookies may feel a little soft in the middle, but they'll firm as up they cool. Turn the oven off and allow the cookies to cool int he oven for about an hour. Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack; they should take about 10-15 minutes to cool.
Nutrition per serving
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