Meringues are my latest obsession, as it is an easy way to bring flavors from around the world back into our home. I’ve been playing with a lemon lavender meringue recipe that brings me to the fields in Provence, France, passion fruit that transports me to a tropical beach and key lime to bring me a tiny taste of Florida.
Tips to the best meringue Recipe?
Well, they are super easy to make once you get your recipe figured out. They are also low in calorie and gluten-free, so I don’t feel bad when I eat 20 in one sitting.
Basic Ingredients for meringues
Meringues are a combination of sugar and whipped egg whites and a pinch of salt with a bit of cream of tartar added to it.
Alternative acids for your meringues
You can also use vinegar or lemon (it needs an acid), but we prefer to go simple with cream of tartar in our meringue recipe.
Always Use Natural Extracts
Using natural extracts and ground herbs and zests, I can make different combinations like blueberry lemonade, mojitos and peach bellinis.
Are you read to dive into my easy meringue recipe and transport yourself to your favorite country? Let’s go!
How long to cook your meringues
Personally, I like my meringues crisp all the way through, so I give them extra drying time at the end. If you don’t, you will get a chewy, tacky texture in the middle that sticks to your teeth.
What are the 3 types of meringues?
French meringue
The most traditional type is French meringue, which is baked egg whites and sugar, plus any flavor you like to add. This is what we are making right now.
Italian meringue
Italian meringue is made by beating hot sugar syrup into stiff egg whites. It is normally used as a frosting on cakes and lemon meringue pies.
Swiss meringue
Swiss meringue is similar to Italian meringue, but you dissolve sugar and egg whites over a pot of simmering water. Many use it as a base for buttercream frosting.
Meringue Tools
- Piping tips
- Piping Pastry Bags
- Hand mixer or Stand mixer
- Meringue Flavors: extract bundle
- Parchment Paper
- Cookie Sheets
- Measuring Cups
- Teaspoons and tablespoons
Meringue Recipe
- 2 egg whites (room temperature)
- 1/8 tsp cream of tarter
- ½ cup of sugar (if using regular sugar, run it through the food processor first to get it extra fine).
- Food Color
- 3/4 tsp Natural Extract and/or 1 tbsp zest
Meringue Recipe instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Separate egg whites from egg yokes. Save egg yolks for custard or something else.
- Beat egg whites on medium high until they get a bit frothy (should make some bubbles on top).
- Add cream of tarter. Mix on medium to medium high until soft peaks form and you get a shaving cream consistency (should be a solid white color).
- Slowly add in the sugar one tablespoon at a time.
- Beat on medium-high until you get stiff peaks and the sugar is dissolved.
- Add extract and/or zest.
- Add food coloring if you desire a solid color meringue. *see below for stripe instructions
- Spoon meringue mix into a piping bag with a star tip, or any other shape you want (if you are using zest, make sure you use a tip with a large opening or the zest will clog up your tip).
- Pipe meringues onto parchment paper, making the base about the size of a nickel.
- Bake meringues for 70 minutes. Do not open oven door!
- Turn off the oven. Let the meringues cool in oven for at least 2 hours so the meringues dry out, getting that crispy texture. Do not open the oven door and let out the heat.
- Pop cooled meringues off the parchment paper and store in an airtight container. Keep in mind that if it is humid, your meringues could go soft much more quickly as they absorb moisture, even in storage. Eat these beauties up ASAP, as they do not last a long time.
- Enjoy!
NOTE: If you would like meringues with a stripe of color, simply add a drop of food color to the side of the piping bag before you spoon in meringue. You can add a second color for a bit of fun too.
Meringue Flavors
There are an infinite number of meringue flavors you can makes from the simple to the exotic. I love mixing extracts and zests to find combinations that remind me of cocktails, pie, and other delicious treats.
Again, meringues are gluten-free and low in calories. Why not go crazy? It’s also cheap to make a lot of them.
France
- Lavender Bees Knees: 1/2 Lemon extract ( or lemon zest), squirt of honey and cooking lavender (or lavender extract) plus bee pollen granules for garnish on top.
- Combine a tablespoon of lavender with sugar in a food processor. Blend together until you get a fine grit/powder. Use your lavender sugar when adding sugar to your meringues.
- Add lemon zest and honey after the sugar has been incorporated
- After you pipe out meringue, add a small sprinkle of bee pollen just before you bake.
Italy
There are so many fabulous Italian combinations you can create, including the classic meringue dusted with cinnamon. If you want to float down the canals of Venice though, you whip up a batch of peach bellini merigues.
Peach Bellini
- ½ tsp Sparkling wine
- ½ tsp peach extract
Cuba
Shake up a few classic Cuban cocktails, like the easy mint mojito that Hemingway loved to down or a frothy daiquiri, that the forbidden island created and we all enjoy. Want to skip the alcohol, bake up a few meringues inspired by the flavors of Cuba.
Mojito
- 3/4 tsp Spearmint extract
- Lime zest (or lime extract)
Pineapple Daiquiri
- 1/2 tsp Pineapple extract
- 1/2 tsp lime extract (or one lime zest)
Jordan
I brought back about 25 pounds of baklava when I was in Jordan. I don’t regret a single pound in my luggage. Pistachios are king in this dessert, which means I can easily whip up a batch of pistachio meringues or even try for a baklava flavor.
Pistachio
- 3/4 tsp pistachio extract
Baklava
- 3/4 tsp pistachio extract
- Touch of honey
- Lemon zest
- Sprinkle cinnamon on after they cool
England
Pour yourself a cup of tea or just snack on these little Earl Grey tea meringue drops that will have you dreaming about your next trip to London, or a sweet and savory afternoon tea.
Earl Grey tea
- 1/2 tsp bergamot extract
- 1/4 tsp orange extract (or orange zest)
California
Soak in the California sun with a few strawberry goodies. Even on a rainy day I love these little drops of joy.
Strawberry meringues
- 3/4 tsp Strawberry extract
Strawberry Lemonade
- Zest of one Lemon
- 3/4 tsp Strawberry extract
- Freeze dried strawberry dust on top (break up by hand or in the food processor)
Maine
Maine is all about her blueberries. It’s one of the reasons we love Maine with kids so much. My boys don’t put up a fight when I tell them to have their fruits each day, and they just LOVED these blueberry lemon meringues I made in honor of our road trip around Maine.
Blueberry Lemonade
- 3/4 tsp blueberry extract
- Lemon zest
- Color with blue and yellow food coloring for a bit of fun
Kentucky
Every year, my neighbors’ have a derby party to celebrate the Kentucky Derby horse race, fancy hats and all. Naturally, mint juleps in copper cups are on the menu, a southern classic in May.
Mint Julep
Hawaii
When I think of our trips to Hawaii, what I remember most are the tropical fruits we could find hanging on the trees all across the islands. Passion fruit is my favorite, but I happily devoured mangos every day when we were last on Kauai with kids.
And you just can’t go wrong with coconut when you dream up a tropical dessert.
Mango
Coconut
Passion Fruit
- Passion fruit extract
- Vanilla extract
Florida
If you didn’t already know that Key West, FL is the home of key lime pie, now you do. While the state of Florida shows off key lime in a variety of ways (including Amelia Island with our favorite Key Lime martini recipe), Key West will always be the king of key lime.
Key Lime pie meringues
- 3/4 tsp Key lime extract
- Graham cracker dust to sprinkle on top
Georgia
Georgia is the peach state, even sporting a giant peach water tower. Naturally, we make peach meringues in their honor, and throw in a tropical twist as well.
Peach pie meringues
- 3/4 tsp Peach extract
- Graham cracker crumble on top (gluten-free graham crackers)
Peach Mango Surprise
- 1/2 tsp Peach extract
- 1/2 tsp mango extract
- Sprinkle freeze dried mango on top
Michigan
Traverse City, MI produces 75% of the tart cherries in the US, with 3.8 million cherry trees. Why not honor this state on the Great Lakes with a little cherry pie.
Cherry Pie meringues
- 3/4 tsp Cherry extract
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
Minnesota
Hopkins, MN is the home of the world’s largest raspberry and an annual raspberry festival. It’s weird, but true. I’ve only been to Minnesota once, but you can bet I’ll be searching out that raspberry the next time we head to the midwest.
Raspberry
- 3/4 tsp raspberry extract
- Sprinkle freeze-dried raspberries on top for extra flavor and crunch.
Raspberry lemonade
- 3/4 tsp raspberry extract
- Lemon zest (one lemon)
Oregon
Oregon’s Willamette Valley is the blackberry capital of the world (also raspberry!). While we enjoyed wild blackberries all across the region when living in Seattle, we’ll let Oregon have this one. It’s in invasive species out there, so we should eat more blackberries.
Blackberry meringues
- 3/4 tsp blackberry extract
Baking favorites
Candy Canes
- 3/4 tsp Peppermint extract
- Crushed up candy canes sprinkled on top
Peanut Butter Cups
- 1/2 tsp Cocoa extract
- ½ tsp Peanut Butter extract (or 2 tsp PB powder)
Chocolate Coconut crunch
- 1/2 tsp Cocoa extract
- 1/2 tsp coconut extract
Coffee Collection
Mocha latte
- 1/2 tsp Cocoa extract
- 1/2 tsp coffee extract (or 2 tsp Starbucks 1 VIA Packet powder)
Hazelnut Coffee
- 1/2 tsp Hazelnut extract
- 1/4 tsp coffee extract (or 2 tsp Starbucks 1 VIA Packet powder)
PIN IT FOR LATER!
Best Meringue Recipe
This meringue recipe is super easy to make once you get it figured out. The hardest part will be getting your egg whites to puff up. Meringue cookies are low in calorie and gluten-free. Using natural extracts and ground herbs and zests, you can make different combinations like blueberry lemonade, mojitos and peach bellinis.
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites (room temperature)
- 1/8 tsp cream of tarter
- ½ cup of sugar (if using regular sugar, run it through the food processor first to get it extra fine).
- Food Color
- 3/4 tsp Natural Extract and/or 1 tbsp zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Separate egg whites from egg yokes. Save egg yolks for custard or something else.
- Beat egg whites on medium high until they get a bit frothy (should make some bubbles on top).
- Add cream of tarter. Mix on medium to medium high until soft peaks form and you get a shaving cream consistency (should be a solid white color).
- Slowly add in the sugar one tablespoon at a time.
- Beat on medium-high until you get stiff peaks and the sugar is dissolved.
- Add extract and/or zest.
- Add food coloring if you desire a solid color meringue. *see below for stripe instructions
- Spoon meringue mix into a piping bag with a star tip, or any other shape you want (if you are using zest, make sure you use a tip with a large opening or the zest will clog up your tip).
- Pipe meringues onto parchment paper, making the base about the size of a nickel.
- Bake meringues for 70 minutes. Do not open oven door!
- Turn off the oven. Let the meringues cool in oven for at least 2 hours so the meringues dry out, getting that crispy texture. Do not open the oven door and let out the heat.
- Pop cooled meringues off the parchment paper and store in an airtight container. Keep in mind that if it is humid, your meringues could go soft much more quickly as they absorb moisture, even in storage. Eat these beauties up ASAP, as they do not last a long time.
- Enjoy!
Notes
If you would like meringues with a stripe of color, simply add a drop of food color to the side of the piping bag before you spoon in meringue. You can add a second color for a bit of fun too.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 42Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 11mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 0gSugar: 10gProtein: 1g
