Peppermint Meringue Cookies are the perfect balance of white chocolate and peppermint. These morsels are the perfect addition to your next holiday tray!
Peppermint Meringue Cookies are a great departure from traditional holiday cookies. They are so light and airy, melting in your mouth and leaving a refreshing burst of mint on your tongue.
While these cookies are perfect for Christmas, you can easily alter the recipe to fit any holiday or celebration. Simply switch up the food coloring and skip the peppermint and you will have a year-a-round treat to share with your friends and family.
Peppermint Meringue Cookies
Tis the season for all things peppermint! If you have never had meringues, the flavor falls somewhere between a cookie and candy. Made with egg whites and sugar, these cookies are naturally low-fat and gluten-free. The key to making the perfect meringues is beating your batter until it reaches STIFF PEAKS. I will talk more about how to achieve these peaks below.
Like I said above, meringues are extremely versatile and you don’t need to limit yourself to them during any particular holiday or season. Switch things up by using the following variations:
- Take out the peppermint and white chocolate and add in a cup of chocolate chips and two tablespoons of cocoa powder to your meringue batter. Instead of using a piping bag, place heaping tablespoons of batter on a baking sheet. Bake at 300 °F for 32-40 minutes or until just dry.
- Make “Black and White Meringues” by taking out peppermint and substituting ½ cup chocolate chips and ½ cup white chocolate chips. Instead of using a piping bag, place heaping tablespoons of batter on a baking sheet. Bake at 300 °F for 32-40 minutes or until just dry.
These are just a few options for different meringues, but the possibilities are truly endless. You can add whatever flavors your heart desires and still get a great result.
How Long do Meringue Cookies Last?
Store your meringue cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. Unlike most other cookies, they will last up to two weeks! When stored in a cool and dry place, meringues keep quite well due to their drier nature.
Tips For Meringue Cookies
Prevent Meringue Cookies from Cracking
Meringues will crack due to a sudden change in temperature. To prevent this, turn off your oven when the baking process is complete, but DO NOT REMOVE your meringues from the oven until they are completely cooled. You don’t have to worry about them overbaking like other cookies.
Adding Cream to Tartar to Meringue Cookies
You may be wondering why it is so important to add cream of tartar to your meringue. Cream of tartar is an acidic salt that helps stabilize delicate meringue. It is very important not to skip it! It makes all the difference.
Getting Rid of Chewy Texture in Meringue Cookies
The reason meringues get chewy is because of moisture. Like I said above, it is important to let your meringues cool in the oven. If your meringues are still too chewy, bake them for another ten minutes in the oven and allow them to cool inside the oven again. This should do the trick!
Don’t Over Beat Meringue
You want to beat your batter just until you get stiff peaks. If you beat it any longer, you will get very flat and shapeless meringues.
Separate Egg Whites in a Separate Dish
Seperate your egg whites in a dish and save them for later. You will want to make sure that no egg yolk gets into your meringue batter. Even the smallest amount could affect the fluffiness and lightness of the meringue.
Other Holiday Cookies
- Kolaczki Recipe (Polish Cookies)
- Whipped Shortbread Cookies
- Pecan Crescent Cookies
- Ferrero Rocher Christmas Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Egg Whites
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 cup White Chocolate
- 1 tsp Shortening
- 5 Candy Canes
Instructions
- Prepare ingredients for the cookies. You can choose a color of your preference. Egg whites should be at a room temperature.
- Using a stand up mixer, on high, beat egg whites together with sugar.
- Add in salt and cream of tartar, beat until stiff peaks; it will take about 10 minutes.
- In a pastry bag or a ziplock back with a tip, put a few drops of food coloring. Spoon in meringue mixture.
- Pipe out small/medium size meringue cookies. Bake them at 200 °F for about 90 minutes. Allow them to cool completely in the oven to prevent them from cracking.
- For the minty dip, place chocolate in a bowl with shortening. Melt chocolate using a microwave, be sure to stir every 20 seconds. Crush candy canes in a ziplock bag, to avoid the mess.
- Dip meringue cookies into chocolate, followed by crushed candies.
Hello! They look beautiful! I wanted to ask can I make these 3 days ahead and how to store them? Thank you!
Hey Tatiana, You can store your meringue cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. They will stay fresh for a few weeks. Enjoy
These taste so amazing! I couldn’t find any peppermint candy canes (4 days before Christmas) lol so the closest I found were the green wintergreen ones! Still tasted amazing!
Hey Eve, I think you sent a picture on IG. I loved the green one even more. I think they are so pretty. Thanks so sharing!
My first time making these little beauties simply because I was intimidated, and wow, they turned out perfectly! I added 1/8 tsp peppermint extract and sprinkled with crushed candy canes, so pretty! I didn’t have decorating tips so I cut a small section of zip lock bag. Worked out great! Thank you!
Hey there! I am so delighted to hear this recipe was a success! Thank you so much for sharing your process. Sounds like they turned out smashing! Enjoy!
Made them for the first time today. I've never worked with meringue before, but it was so easy. Had a little trouble figuring out the right movements with the piping bag, so a few were misshapen, but they got better. Thank you for an easy recipe.
Hi Valerie - Amazing! I love, love, love meringue and find that it's much easier to make than most people think. Happy to hear you feel the same. Happy Holidays!
Made these today and it was my first time making meringue cookies. I added a few drops of peppermint extract and a little vanilla bean paste and they turned out great! Going to have my kids help with the white chocolate and candy cane pieces tonight!
Hey hey Amber - AMAZING! Love that so much. I do so much cooking during the holidays, the only way I can spend time with Ethan and Jacob is having them bake with me. I hope that you guys have a blast making these. 🙂 Happy holidays, friend!
Can these be frozen?
Hey Carol, I would not recommend freezing them but they hold up well in a room temperature, dry place.
I do not have a stand mixture can i still so this with my regular hand mixture?
Hi Naomi - Your hand mixer should work just fine! Let us know how it turns out.
In the recipe you say remove from oven and let cool at room temperature. In your notes you say turn oven off and let them completely cool in the oven . Which one is it?
Hi Chris – Great catch! You’re supposed to allow them to cool in the oven with the door closed to prevent the meringue from cracking (shocking them with cool air will cause cracks). We’ve updated the recipe. Appreciate your eyes on this one!
My grandmother called these Night, Nights, as she would bake them at night before bed, turn off the oven and let them sleep in the oven till morning.
Thanks for the wonderful reminder of my childhood!
I love hearing stories such as yours! This would be a start to a wonderful tradition! Thank you for the idea! Merry Christmas 🎄 to you and yours!
Patti, thank you! Happy Holidays to you!
Oh wow, thats a great idea. Thank you for sharing your story!
What would you say is the size circle that you pipe out in inches so I don't make them too big or too small?
It really is up to your preference. I try to make them about two bites in size.
The single hardest thing was making them as pretty as yours.. Perhaps because I didn't have the tip and just used a bag alone (gulp ?). Thanks so much for the recipe! Got rid of those candy canes, and got something delicious out of it. Love it. ?
Yeah, the tip really makes a huge difference. I tried another tip and it wasn't the same at all.
What size tip did you use?
Hi Shirley- I believe it was a 4B piping tip, but you could use other tips as well. I think any of the standard ones would work (like 1M). Enjoy!
Add 1/2 tsp or less of peppermint extract to egg whites after beating until stiff peaks and it will taste DIVINE!!
Anna, I love that idea. Where do you find peppermint extract?
Hi
I was wondering how many days are they good for?
They can stay fresh for several week if you keep them in a airtight container.
Okay,thank you soo much!! I've been looking for something christmasy to do, and this is perfect!
🙂
Wow Nancy, they are so pretty! Perfect Christmas treat!
Thank you so much! They are so delicious, and simple:) love it:) I wondering if you have the recipe for {ЗЕФИР } please! I am looking for good recipe!
Thank you so much...;)
Hi, you did such a great job. I Love getting the pics!!!! This is the recipe for Zefir that I have been using for years http://momsdish.com/r20
Thank you so much 🙂
Girl these look awesome! Too pretty to eat 🙂
Thank you Katya! You are probably right 🙂
These look so simple and delicious, my son would eat them up. I will have to ask him if he would like to donate his candy canes for the recipe :).
Funny that you say that, my son was concerned about me using his candy canes. He was happy with the turn out. Especially when he was taking the, to the school party.
Hi Hatalya,
Thanks for the recipe, last night I already tried to make them. They turned out to be crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside. But the next morning they become sticky and gooey. Please can you tell what went wrong? The room temperature or something else? Thank you!
Alla
It may be because they weren't cooked for long enough. Meringue can be tricky sometimes. The weather and oven temperature can play a roll.
Hi, Natalya, I was wondering whether you used parchment lined sheets or a silicone mat? Thank you 🙂
I used silicone mat, either one of those things would work with this recipe.
I did parchment paper and can confidently say that is works super:-)
I was wondering if I can substitute butter for the shortening? Or something else? Thanks! Love this idea for my coworkers but don't want to mess up by substituting something that won't work
You dont have to add shortening, it just helps chocolate melt better. Just melt the chocolate on the low heat, constantly stirring. It will melt just fine, with shortening it's easier.
Thank you so much!!!
Oh goodness gracious these look wonderful!!!!!!!!!!! Just in time for Christmas! I'll be making them 🙂 Спасибо. С Рождеством Христовым!!!!
These look amazing!!! Thank You!
I'm not the one who made these Natalya P. :-). The credit goes to Natalya Drozhzin. This is her site. It seems we have lots of Natalyas lol.
he he he...Hello! the World of Natalyas!!! lol, I love your comments.
I hope you guys will love them, share photos when you do.
Soooo...I couldn't wait and I made them today and i think these are the best meringues that I've made. Tender, crunchy, sweet, and the peppermint candies?????? Ahh ya yay!!! Pure bliss, seriously!!! I did some with milk chocolate, they were awesome too.
Wow, so beautiful! I love the colors. You and your daughter are adorable.
Close up of how mine turned out (without Larisa and me:) as you can see I made mine with green and red colors and did some with white and milk chocolates and they are both great. Thank you Natalya:)
I love dark chocolate so I think that it would work wonderful as well. Thank you so much for sharing your photos. I like getting to know you guys. Makes blogging fun!