Meringues are a light and crunchy naturally gluten-free dessert that melt in your mouth. Better yet? Mine are made with only two ingredients –egg whites and maple syrup.
Meringue cookies are fun, yet elegant, pleasing both young and old; my children and their friends devour them. So does my husband. We’ll be serving my quick and easy Meringues at our Passover Seder, along with my egg-free Macaroons, in order to give everyone with food restrictions loads of options.
If you’re not Jewish, these meringues are also a wonderfully springy, light, and festive Easter dessert.
Meringues
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- ½ cup maple syrup
Instructions
- In a medium pot combine egg whites and maple syrup
- Turn flame on stove to lowest setting possible
- Using a hand blender with whisk attachment, whisk meringues in pot on stove
- Whisk 4-5 minutes total, until stiff glossy peaks form
- Fit a pastry bag with a ⅜-inch round tip (ateco #804) and fill bag with meringue
- Pipe meringue kisses 1-inch in diameter onto parchment paper lined baking sheets
- Bake at 200°F for 2 hours
- Allow to cool for 1 hour
- Serve
Equipment
This meringue cookie recipe is based on the meringue frosting recipe in my first book, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.
If you don’t want to be fussy and mess with a pastry bag you can drop this meringue mixture one large spoonful at a time onto a parchment lined baking sheet. One of the best things about these delicious, melt-in-your mouth meringues is that you don’t need to own a stand mixer to make them, you can make them like I did with a cheap hand mixer using the whisk attachment.
Another note on these gluten-free meringues –I tried making them with honey and they had an overly sweet cloying taste, my entire family preferred the ones I made with maple syrup, in fact, the boys would not eat the meringues made with honey.
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If you’re wondering what to do with all those extra egg whites when you make my Chocolate Pots de Creme, use this Meringue recipe. According to Martha Stewart, meringues can be made 5 days ahead and stored in a cool, dry place at room temperature.
Isabelle says
Do you think that using honey instead of maple syrup would work? I’d love to make these but forgot I ran out of maple syrup!!!!!
Elana says
Isabelle, I recommend making them with maple syrup :-)
Shannon says
I tried this recipe with honey once… they seemed to cook much faster for some reason (maybe honey has a lower burning point?), and they were much more chewy (got stuck in my teeth :/). Maple syrup definitely works much better!
Jennifer says
I made these with honey, they turned out nicely and were a huge hit with my daughters class. Honey does caramelize at a lower temperature though, so I had to turn down the temp (170 F which is as low as my oven will go) and kept them in for 3 hours rather than 2. I also let them cool inside the oven because we have a lot of humidity here which will make them sticky.
Jennifer says
OH! I also had to cut the honey down to 1/4 cup.
Elana says
Thanks Jennifer! I’m so glad these were a huge hit :-)
Jennifer says
You’re welcome. I’m very glad I found this page. My daughter’s teacher ended up asking me for the recipe, she was so delighted to finally have a treat EVERYONE in her class could enjoy since there’s a few kids with a lot of allergies and intolerances. (luckily no egg allergies. lol.)
Elana says
Jennifer, thanks for another wonderful comment! I’m so happy that I was part of your daughter’s class’ festivities via this recipe that everyone could enjoy. You made my day :-)
Nancy O'Neal says
I’ve always loved meringues that were chewy instead of crunchy— does anyone know how to make them come out chewy?
Elana says
Hi Nancy, you might want to take them out of the oven a bit early before they dry out and become crispy.
Shannon says
Honey makes them chewy… but also sticky… not fun for the teeth.
Elana says
Thanks Shanon!
Andrew says
In THEORY, according to my experience making pavlova over the years with varying ratios marshmallow/meringue, I suggest for a 2 egg recipe: 1 to 2 teaspoons of white vinegar whipped in at the end, and slightly less cooking time, should produce something closer to a meringue encrusted marshmallow.
I’m new to making meringues and not tried this.
Belinda says
Nice, easy recipe. Turned out great. I had syrup to bottom of some (not sure why). They’re quite sweet.
Elana says
Belinda, thanks for your comment! That has happened to us once in a while when it is a humid day.
Agnes says
to cool should i do that in or out of the oven
Elana says
Agnes, remove from the oven to cool.
Alla says
Egg whites did not stiffen AT ALL. Pretty disappointed :(
Elana says
Alla, there can be a number of reasons that egg whites don’t whip to stiff peaks. Sometimes it’s due to a trace of grease in the pan, or on the beater. Or it could be due to egg yolks contaminating the whites. Or it could be a very humid day that requires additional time whisking the whites. I hope these tips help you in your future egg whisking endeavors :-)
Henry says
Looks great
Micky says
Can you use sugar-free or no sugar added maple syrup?
Sonya says
damnit…just realised as the meringues were staring to colour very strongly after only 20 mins that the oven temp must be in Fahrenheit and in Australia we use Celsius. Hopefully they won’t taste too burnt.
Charmaine says
Same here in SA, our ovens also in celsius
Anna says
is there any way to use coconut sugar instead of maple syrup?
Charmaine says
I used Xylitol, worked fantastic
Julieta says
How much xylitol dos you use? Thanks!!
Bhavin says
Hi can’t wait to make these. I was wandering if you were to make a few larger meringues rather than 50 small ones would you amend the cooking temp/time. I’ll try it out and post results.