Lemon Meringue Cookies
These lemon meringue cookies are crisp airy puffs with a citrusy lemon flavor. They are perfect for parties or a light dessert after dinner and make great gifts! The bite-sized meringue kisses will melt in your mouth like a flavor explosion, and you'll be hooked.
Try a fun variation and fill them with mini chocolate truffles or chocolate kisses. Read the notes for more fun ways to make these little meringue kisses.
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Try a fun variation and fill them with mini chocolate truffles or chocolate kisses. Read the notes for more fun ways to make these little meringue kisses.
Servings: 36 to 40 cookies
Calories: 25kcal
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites room temperature
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon lemon extract or ½ teaspoon lemon oil
- 1 cup superfine granulated sugar
- Optional: zest from 1 lemon
- 3 to 4 drops of yellow food coloring optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°F and move the rack to the lower third position of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Use a whisk attachment and beat the whites on medium high speed until they reach the soft peaks stage (the peaks will flop over when you lift the beaters).
- Beat in the lemon extract or lemon oil. With the mixer running, slowly stream in the sugar (it should take 60 to 70 seconds to finish streaming in the sugar).
- Continue mixing until you see stiff peaks form (they will look shiny and have pointy mounds that will stand upright when you lift the beaters). Fold in the lemon zest (if using).
- If you want yellow stripes in the cookies, spoon ¼ cup of the meringue into a separate bowl and fold in the yellow food coloring. Fit a large decorating bag with a star tip, (we used #827 tip). Use a knife to smear lines of the yellow meringue down the sides of the piping bag.
- Fill the bag with some of the meringue and twist it closed. Pipe 1 inch mounds of meringue onto the baking sheet. (See the notes if you don’t have a piping bag).
- Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake for 1-½ hours. Turn the oven off but do not open the door. Leave the meringues in the oven for 2 to 3 more hours.
Notes
- You can use regular granulated sugar in these meringue cookies, however using extra fine baker’s sugar will give the meringues a better texture and shinier coat.
- Make sure your bowl and beaters are perfectly clean. If you have even a small amount of grease or residue on the beaters or bowl, the egg whites will not whip up properly. Use a glass or metal bowl because plastic bowls are susceptible for retaining unseen grease.
- To maintain the texture, as soon as the lemon meringue cookies cool, store them in an airtight container. They do not need to be refrigerated. The interior will get slightly crisper each day you store them unless they come in contact with humidity. Humidity will make them wet and sticky.
- Stiff peak stage: Egg whites will be at the stiff peak stage when they look shiny and you can see pointy peaks stand up straight when you lift the beaters.
- If you don’t have a piping bag, use a spoon to plop walnut sized mounds of meringue on the baking sheet. Use a small ½ teaspoon measuring spoon to place a drop of yellow meringue on top of the mounds then swirl it in a circular motion to give it a swirled pattern.
Variations:
- Sandwich the meringue kisses with homemade lemon curd or pipe the meringue into little nests that you can spoon the curd into when the meringues finish baking.
- Melt some chocolate and dip the bottom of the lemon meringues in the chocolate, then transfer to wax paper until the chocolate sets up.
- Add a Nestle chocolate lava truffle bite or a chocolate kiss to the center of each meringue by piping a small amount of meringue on the baking sheet, then topping it with a truffle. Pipe more meringue over the top to cover the truffle.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 | Calories: 25kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Sodium: 19mg | Sugar: 5g