So you’ve made traditional chocolate chip cookies and stepped it up with the monstrous version made famous by a local New York City bakery. Now, it’s time to scale it back and make ones that are an entirely different style - French meringue cookies ? Light, airy and perfectly crisp, pair this bite-size dessert with a cup of your favourite coffee and you’ve got yourself the perfect weekend treat. While making meringue cookies are easy enough, the one thing you should look out for is humidity - it can make or break this delicate dessert. It’s a tricky issue to navigate, but it’s not an impossible one to overcome! All it takes is a bit of planning, timeliness and this easy halal French meringue cookies recipe and you’re well on your way to making a batch of these to enjoy at home ?
Ingredients (yields 48)
- 4 egg whites
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla essence
- ¼ tsp cream of tartar (you can also substitute with lemon juice or white vinegar)
Equipment
- Piping bag (with a star nozzle though this is optional, and if you don’t have a piping bag simply DIY one using a ziplock bag)
- Hand or stand mixer
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 90°C. In a small bowl, separate egg whites one at a time. Then transfer each white over to another bowl. Make sure to not get any broken yolks in the bowl.
- Add cream of tartar and salt to the egg whites and mix on low, gradually increasing the speed to high.
- Beat the eggs until they become foamy, then slowly add in the sugar. You can do this either a teaspoon at a time or sprinkle it in bit by bit. It’s important to take your time with this step as it will determine how your final meringues turn out. Once all the sugar has been added, pour in the vanilla and continue to beat.
- Whisk the egg mixture until it has a thick, marshmallow-like consistency with a stiff peak. Test this out by holding the whisk attachment upside down, the egg whites should hold its shape. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag and get ready to pipe your meringues.
- Position your piping bag perpendicular to the baking sheet and pipe the mixture about ½ an inch away from it. Stop squeezing once you’ve got a meringue “kiss”, then just lift the piping bag away to finish the meringue. For some visual guidance, check out how it’s done in this video below:
- Place the baking sheet in the oven at the centre rack and let the meringues bake for about an hour. Once done, turn the oven off, crack the door open and leave the meringues in the oven to cool completely.
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a bowl - they should be able to peel off easily from the parchment paper. Serve and enjoy!
Notes:
- It’s best to pipe your meringue immediately after it’s been properly whisked. Otherwise, it’ll lose the consistency and you won’t get the desired shape or effect at the end.
- Avoid opening and closing the oven door when your meringues are cooling. It will cause them to cool inconsistently and affect the texture of your cookies.
- You can add food colouring to your meringues to make them pop more. Add just a tiny amount using a toothpick and mix it around a little. Then distribute the colour further using a whisk.
- Store your meringue cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
French meringue cookies are easy to make as long as you factor in the right time to whip them up, which means no baking these delicate treats on humid or rainy days. And once you find the window to make them, it’ll be one more dessert to add to your list of favourite sweet treats ?