Light and airy Peppermint Meringues are a delicious little cookie perfect for adding to your holiday baking.
These gluten free cookies are festive and delicious and add a colorful touch with their red and white swirl.
Meringue cookie
If you've never had a meringue cookie before, you're in for a treat! They are light and airy and just melt in your mouth. The touch of peppermint will leave you thinking you've just eaten a candy cane.
Plan ahead when making these cookies. They take a while to cook. The cookies are cooked at a very low temperature for an hour and then remain in the oven for an additional 30 minutes with the temperature off.
The cookies need to be fully dry. If you're trying to make these on a really humid day, you may run into a few issues getting these cookies to fully dry.
If you like meringue cookies, you'll also want to check out my chocolate meringues!
These peppermint meringue cookies are part of my 10 Days of Christmas cookies series. I have a new cookie coming out for the first 10 days of December.
Key ingredients
- Egg Whites - Use room temperature eggs
- Sugar - Granulated sugar is used in this recipe
- Peppermint Extract - Gives that amazing peppermint flavor. For a totally different flavor option, you could use vanilla extract.
- Cream of Tartar - Helps stabilize the egg whites once they are whipped
- Red Gel Food Coloring - Adds a great color. Liquid food coloring does not work in this recipe. Gel food coloring can be found wherever you can buy cake decorating supplies.
Step by step directions
- Preheat oven to 225°F
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper
- Place egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer
- Using the whisk attachment, whisk at medium speed until the egg whites become very frothy, about 2-3 minutes
- Increase the speed to medium-high and slowly add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time
- Increase the speed to high and beat until the egg whites are glossy and form stiff peaks, about 3-4 minutes
- Turn the speed to low and add the peppermint extract. Mix just until the extract is mixed in
- Use a cake decorating disposable bag and fit it with a large tip. I used a 1M tip.
- Using a long wooden skewer, dip just slightly into the red gel food coloring. Line the inside of the decorating bag with two lines of the red coloring
- Fill a decorating bag with meringue
- Pipe meringues onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between each meringue
- Bake both trays of meringues in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Test the meringues. If the centers are still chewy, return to the warm oven for additional time.
Recipe tips
- Make certain your mixing bowl is dry and does not contain any greasy residue
- When separating eggs, be certain not to get any yolk into the whites. Any bit of yolk will prevent the whites from forming glossy peaks.
- Whip until the meringue is glossy, and forms stiff peaks. Stop the mixer to check partway through. If the meringue flops over and doesn't hold its shape, keep mixing.
- You don't want to undermix meringues, but you also don't want to overmix them either.
- To pipe the kiss-shaped meringues, hold the piping bag straight up and down with the tip just slightly above the surface of the tray. Squeeze the bag until the meringue is about one inch. Stop squeezing and lift the bag straight up.
- The color of meringues will change color as the meringue flows through the bag. The first few meringues may be entirely white until they begin to pick up the color.
Frequently asked questions
If your cookies aren't fully dry, they will be slightly chewy, instead of light and airy.
Return the cookies to a 225°F oven until fully dried.
Humidity is the enemy of meringue cookies! The cookies can become chewy if they are in a humid environment. If this happens, just place the cookies back on a baking sheet and return them to the oven until fully dried.
Meringue cookies can be stored in an airtight container and stored at room temperature for up to two weeks.
Yes, meringues can be frozen in an airtight container. They are best used within one month.
More delicious Christmas cookies
In addition to my new Christmas cookie recipes, I also have several additional recipes that you won't want to miss!
- Cranberry Swirl Cookies
- Raspberry Bow Tie Cookies
- Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Thumbprint Cookies
- Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment below and snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @beyondthechickencoop
Check out all my delicious cookie recipes!
Peppermint Meringues
Equipment
- Cookie Sheet
- Parchment paper
- Cake Decorating Bags
- Decorating Tip (1M)
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- pinch salt
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
- red gel food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 225°F
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper
- Place egg whites, cream of tartar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer2 egg whites, ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar, pinch salt
- Using the whisk attachment, whisk at medium speed until the egg whites become very frothy, about 2-3 minutes
- Increase the speed to medium high and slow add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time
- Increase the speed to high and beat until the egg whites are glossy and form stiff peaks, about 3-4 minutes
- Turn speed to low and add the peppermint extract. Mix for just until extract is mixed in¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
- Use a cake decorating disposable bag and fit with a large tip. I used a 1M tip.
- Using a long wooden skewer, dip just slightly into the red gel food coloring. Line the inside of the decorating bag with two lines of the red coloring
- Fill decorating bag with meringue
- Pipe meringues onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between each meringue
- Bake both trays of meringues in preheated oven for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Test the meringues. If the centers are still chewy, return to the warm oven for additional time.
Notes
- Make certain your mixing bowl is dry and does not contain any greasy residue
- When separating eggs, be certain not to get any yolk into the whites. Any bit of yolk will prevent the whites from forming the glossy peaks.
- Whip until the meringue is glossy, and forms stiff peaks. Stop the mixer to check partway through. If the meringue flops over and doesn't hold its shape, keep mixing.
- You don't want to undermix meringues, but you also don't want to overmix them either.
- It doesn't take much food coloring to add color to the meringues.
- To pipe the kiss shaped meringues, hold the piping bag straight up and down with the tip just slightly above the surface of the tray. Squeeze the bag until the meringue is about one inch. Stop squeezing and lift bag straight up.
- The color of the meringues will change color as the meringue flows through the bag. The first few meringues may be entirely white until they begin to pick up the color.
- Store peppermint cookies away from other cookies. The peppermint scent will permeated any nearby cookies if stored together.
Nutritional Disclaimer:
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and should only be construed as an estimate rather than a guarantee. To obtain the most precise nutritional information in a provided recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the exact ingredients you are using when preparing the recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Baked by an Introvert.
Michelle says
Good recipe, but under baked at 1 hour and I rested it in the oven for an hour as well...upon checking the insides they were still soft/chewy on the inside. I then re-baked them at 200 degrees for an additional 1.5 hours to fully dehydrate all the way through and rested in the oven for 30 more minutes. I would suggest for people who don't like chewy centers a 3 hour bake at 200, then one hour rest time in oven. I've tried other meringue cookies at this temperature/time and never had issues. I used fine baking sugar, because it dissolves better in meringue and I cut back on the fine sugar to slightly over 1/3 cup and reduced peppermint to 1/8 tsp and added a drop or two more. Peppermint can be very strong, it's good to start light, taste, and then add one drop at a time until desired flavor.
Kathy says
Thanks for your suggestions. Baking time will vary depending on humidity and the size of your meringues. I love that you were able to problem solve and came up with a great solution! 🙂
David @ Spiced says
I do love making peppermint meringues! They're so festive...and so easy to make. Plus, they last a while which is always nice this time of the year when there are so many different cookies to bake!