meringue

I had never tried meringue cookies until a few years ago when we were visiting our friends that live in Las Vegas and they had a container of them in their pantry.

It’s not something I had ever seen in the grocery store, but I did find them at Whole Foods and bought myself a container… Once after trying them in Vegas. 😂

So that was the only two times… In my LIFE… that I had meringue cookies, until… I saw them on Pinterest recently. I don’t know how Pinterest knows just the right things to show me 🤷🏽‍♀️. I think I was actually looking up royal icing and since you make that with meringue powder it noticed the connection and had to throw it out to see if I’d bite… And I totally did.

But, I didn’t see any recipes that used the Wilton Meringue Powder, only recipes that say how important it is so make sure you only have egg white and nothing else… AT ALL. Sorry, but I don’t have time for all that madness, I just wanted an easy recipe using my cheater meringue powder… Which was also not easy to find.

I was trying to order from Amazon but they won’t ship to California… They’ll ship to every other state… But California 🤦🏽‍♀️. So I asked my trusty Facebook friends and they said I could find it at Wal-Mart. I went on my search for all things baking and there was no meringue powder to be found 🙄. But… I thought I remembered seeing baking things in the craft area as well on a previous visit, so I made the trek across the store and found it! 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 If you are looking for meringue powder make sure you check by the baking pans in the craft area… Baking is an art after all! 😘

Since Pinterest wasn’t much help for a recipe using meringue powder, I had to try to navigate my way through the Wilton site… I did find a recipe but I wouldn’t say it was the most descriptive… So I’m going to write it in easier to understand (for me anyway) terms and hopefully you’ll me able to follow along.

What you’ll need…

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extra
• 1/8 cup meringue powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar

You’ll also want to have:

• A mixer (I used my mother-in-love’s old Kitchenaid mixer and am loving it, but this one looks like it has all the same attachments and is much more affordable)
• Piping bags with tips (I bought this set and these bags are amazing! The tips are pretty cool too)
• Icing color (I used these gel drops)
• Baking mats… you could use parchment paper, but I didn’t have any so I ordered both parchment paper and these baking mats from Amazon at the same time and I don’t know how I lived without these mats before… LOVE them!

Before you get started, you should know that these need to cool in the oven for several hours, so they are best made at night so they can stay in the oven overnight and be ready in the morning.

Step 1

Preheat oven to 250°F. Place your baking mats into your baking pans.

Step 2

In large bowl, whip Meringue Powder and water with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form, do you even know what soft peaks are? If you don’t, I took a picture, essentially it’s when you see little lines forming and it isn’t a runny texture anymore. With mixer running, gradually add sugar. Whip until stiff peaks. Add vanilla extract and icing color and whip until well combined, scraping down bottom and sides of bowl as necessary.

Step 3

Fill your piping bag with the meringue and squeeze out 2 inch circles onto your baking mat about 1 inch apart from each other. I also did smaller little stars between my bigger circles and they turned out super cute as well.

Step 4

Bake 50 minutes or until outsides of meringues feel firm and crisp, turn off the over and let them cool for several hours on the pan. If you make these at night they can stay in the oven overnight. Once cooled, peel cooled meringues off of baking mat. Keep them in an airtight container at room temp for up 2 weeks.

Tips:

• Use granulated sugar, I felt that it kept the consistency better for piping. I tried the second batch with powdered sugar and it seemed way too soft.
• You can experiment with different flavors, but…. after trying 4 additional flavors, I think vanilla is still my favorite, even thought I love almond and coconut flavors, they just didn’t taste as great as the vanilla.
• You can double the recipe. This is actually half of the recipe that Wilton has posted and it made so many cookies that I was glad I only did half because my oven wouldn’t have had the space for 4 pans.
• I also bought these spatulas with my other baking goodies and they make it much easier to load your meringue into your piping bags towards the tip and not have to squeeze it down from the top.

Please let me know what you think and if you have any other fun ideas for me me to try!