Meringue Cookies

Meringue cookies are confections made by whipping egg whites and sugar, piping the mixture into small peaks or swirls or dropping it from a spoon in ovals, and then baking it dry. Their lightness, cracking crisply and melting away in the mouth, comes from a different mechanism than that of cookies made by working flour and butter together. Sugar is dissolved into the whipped egg whites, and moisture is driven off while the foam keeps its shape. The fineness of the texture, the crispness, and the chewiness that remains in the center vary with the proportions of the ingredients, the way the whites are whipped, and the degree of drying.

Adding sugar makes egg-white foam less likely to collapse

When egg whites are whipped, proteins form a film on the surfaces of the air bubbles and trap air. Sugar does more than add sweetness; it is an ingredient that keeps that foam stable. Adding sugar makes the whites take longer to foam, but the dissolved sugar makes the fine-textured foam less likely to collapse. This also makes it easier for shapes piped into small peaks or swirls to hold.

Cold egg whites will also foam, but their condition changes depending on temperature, any fat on the equipment, and any yolk that has gotten in. More whipping does not always mean a better result; if whipping goes too far, the foam can turn grainy and liquid can separate out. When the mixture is piped into small confections and baked, one guideline is a glossy foam that forms standing peaks when the whisk is lifted. Following the recipe (the ingredient proportions and method) being used, the condition of the foam is checked along with the whipping time.

Three methods of making meringue

“Meringue” refers to the whipped egg-white mixture, and it is also the name of the confection made by baking that mixture. The three representative methods of making the mixture are the French, Swiss, and Italian methods. They differ in how the sugar is added and in whether, and when, heat is applied.

French meringue

In this method, sugar is added while unheated egg whites are whipped. It is used both for small confections that are piped and dried and for macarons. The sugar is added in step with how the whites are foaming, and whipping continues while watching the gloss and how the peaks stand.

Swiss meringue

In this method, egg whites and sugar are warmed together over a hot-water bath, stirred to dissolve the sugar, and whipped. In some procedures, the mixture is stirred over the water bath to dissolve the sugar and then, after being taken off the bath, fully whipped with a machine. The glossy mixture can be used as a topping for cakes and pies, and it can also become cookies that are piped and baked dry, or mushroom-shaped decorations whose caps and stems are made separately.

Italian meringue

In this method, sugar and water are boiled in a separate pan to make a syrup, which is poured while still hot in a thin stream into whipped egg whites as whipping continues. It is used for mousses, buttercreams, and the like, and it is also one of the methods for making macarons. Both processes are carried out while watching how far the syrup has cooked down and how far the whites have been whipped.

Each of the three methods is used for more than one confection. Both the French and Italian methods are used for macarons, and dried small confections can also be made with the Swiss method. Beyond how the meringue is made, the resulting confection also varies with the amount of sugar, the other ingredients, how it is baked, and how it is finished.

How the amount of sugar, the way it is added, and its fineness change the result

Changing the amount of sugar changes not only the sweetness but also the properties of the foam. In an experiment that compared 0 grams, 50 grams, 100 grams, and 150 grams of jōhakutō (Japanese soft white sugar) per 100 grams of egg white, the more sugar that was added from the start, the slower the rate at which air was incorporated. Reducing the sugar changes not only the sweetness but also how the whites foam and how well the foam holds.

In the French method, sugar is dissolved into the egg whites little by little while they are whipped. However, the result is not determined solely by how many additions the sugar is divided into. Even with the same amount, the condition of the foam changes depending on when the sugar is added. In the experiment mentioned above, when sugar was added once the whites were almost fully whipped, there were conditions under which no difference in air content appeared between adding it all at once and dividing it into two additions. Even when sugar is added in the same number of portions, differences in the proportions or in how far the whites have been whipped change the condition of the resulting foam.

The fineness of the sugar particles also affects the result. In an experiment that compared baked meringues made with granulated sugar from three companies and with powdered sugar made by grinding each of them, powdered sugar tended to produce a smooth, hard surface, while granulated sugar produced a white, coarser texture. Under the formulation and heating conditions of this experiment, the fineness of the sugar particles led to differences in the surface and texture.

Powdered sugar is granulated sugar or jōhakutō ground finely. Some commercial products contain a small amount of cornstarch to keep them from caking, so not all of them have the same composition. When choosing powdered sugar, the formulation changes depending not only on the fineness of the particles but also on whether the product contains starch. Some meringue cookie recipes also use cornstarch, but it is not a necessary ingredient for every meringue cookie.

How acid changes foaming and the baked result

Some meringues use cream of tartar, lemon juice, or vinegar. Acid affects not only how easily the whites foam but also how the meringue rises when baked. In a comparison in which cream of tartar, citric acid, and acetic acid were each added to bring the egg whites to pH 4.8, every acid helped foaming, but their effects on rising after baking were not the same, and cream of tartar increased the expansion.

Air being incorporated into the foam, rising during baking, and drying so that the shape remains are separate changes. Formulations, including whether to use acid, are built around the desired texture. Because lemon juice and vinegar also contain water, they are used differently from powdered cream of tartar, including in the amount added and in the formulation.

How baking and thickness change the texture

Turning the foam into a dry small confection takes a low temperature and a long time. The thick center and the thin tip of piped meringue lose moisture at different rates. Making the size and thickness uniform makes it easier to bake them evenly. Some versions have nuts or chopped chocolate mixed into the mixture, others have them scattered over the piped surface, and fruit powders can also be used to add flavor and color.

One recipe that uses both fine-grained sugar and powdered sugar bakes the meringues at about 121°C for 30 minutes and then dries them at about 107°C for 1–2 hours. Shortening the second stage leaves some chewiness in the center, while lengthening it dries them all the way through for a crisp texture. These temperatures and times are one example for that formulation, and the same baking method is not meant to be applied to every meringue. Clues to the finished state include lightness when held, a sound when the bottom is tapped that suggests a hollow inside, and dryness in the center when one is broken open. During cooling, too, they are handled so that the fragile shapes do not break.

Some meringues are given a little color. Angelo Rim, who specialized in making meringues in Botterens, Switzerland, from 1964, popularized a method of drying them at about 120°C, a higher temperature than before, to give them a slight color and aroma. Alongside the method of baking them white, this method of giving them a pale color and aroma has also been passed down.

How they differ from pavlova and macarons

Small meringues dried all the way through and pavlova, which is crisp on the outside while keeping a marshmallow-like softness inside, aim for different textures in the center. Some pavlovas consist of meringue baked in a tall round shape and topped with whipped cream and fruit; besides their size, they are also distinguished by their interior texture and the way they are finished.

For macarons, which became popular in Paris, almond flour and powdered sugar are combined with meringue to bake shells, and cream or another filling is sandwiched between two of them. Dacquoise also uses meringue combined with nut flour, and there are confections in which the batter, baked into disks, is layered with cream. Depending on the ingredients added to the meringue, the degree of drying, and the combination with cream and the like, even confections that use similar ingredients differ in structure and texture.

The history of meringue as traced through cookbooks

A 1604 cookbook from Liège includes a sweet foam made by mixing sugar syrup into egg whites, but it is described as something served on a plate and is not the same as today’s dry small confections. La Varenne’s Le Pâtissier françois (The French Pastry Cook, 1653) records a recipe close to meringue called “snow-froth sugar biscuits.”

Massialot’s Nouvelle instruction pour les confitures, les liqueurs, et les fruits (New Instructions for Preserves, Liqueurs, and Fruits, 1692) gives two methods in its chapter “Meringues and Macarons.” For “twin meringues,” egg whites are whipped very stiff, lemon zest and fine sugar are added, and the mixture is placed on paper in rounds or ovals about the size of a walnut. Heat is applied from above with an oven lid bearing fire, and once they have risen and colored, candied raspberries, cherries, strawberries, or the like are placed in the center, which is then closed with a second meringue.

The pistachio meringues that follow combine nuts, skinned in hot water and drained, with egg whites and sugar, and they are also used to decorate tarts and in assortments. Already, there was the idea not only of baking meringue on its own but also of sandwiching fruit in it or combining it with other confections. The technique of whipping egg whites, baked-dry confections, and the name “meringue” each appear in historical sources at different times. In Switzerland, too, recipes survive from Lausanne in 1753 and in 19th-century cookbooks.

François Massialot, Nouvelle instruction pour les confitures, les liqueurs, et les fruits (1692), page 186. Below the chapter heading is “Twin Meringues.” Directly beneath it follow the instructions to whip the whites of three or four eggs very stiff and combine them with lemon zest and fine sugar, and in the lower part of the page, rounds or ovals about the size of a walnut are formed on paper.

The same book, page 187. In the upper half, the steps of baking with heat from above, placing fruit in the hollow in the center, and covering it with another meringue can be read. From the heading in the middle, the method for meringues with pistachios follows. It states that the nuts, skinned in hot water, are drained and added, and, in the lower part of the page, that each meringue should contain a nut and that they are used to decorate tarts. Source: copy held by the Getty Research Institute, images published on the Internet Archive (leaves 214–215).

The legend of its birth in Meiringen

There is a story that meringue was created in Meiringen, Switzerland, by a pastry cook of Italian origin named Gasparini. Joseph Favre’s dictionary of 1894 treated the Meiringen theory as established fact. However, the relevant records were lost to fires in the town and to war, and direct verification remains difficult.

At the time, imported sugar was expensive, and meringue used large amounts of that sugar. For this reason, there is also the view that it is more natural to think meringue was made at wealthy courts and in cities rather than in rural villages. The German name is said to have been borrowed from French. Meiringen and “meringue” sound similar, but whether the town’s name is the origin of the word, and whether Gasparini invented it, remain unclear.

Served with Gruyère double cream

In the Pre-Alps of the Emmental, Fribourg, and Vaud, meringues are paired with local dairy products. A dish of meringues generously topped with rich Gruyère double cream also concludes the meal of the Bénichon, a festival in Fribourg. It is a local way of enjoying dry meringues together with rich cream.

There are also ways of eating meringue in which its shape is broken up and the dish is assembled, as in Eton mess, where crushed meringue is layered with cream and fruit. Besides being eaten as is, meringue is also used as a decoration or a base for cakes.

Storing meringues to keep them crisp

Baking them so that moisture remains in the center and softening after baking by absorbing humidity are different changes. Sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it draws in moisture from the air, so even thoroughly baked-dry meringues become sticky and lose their crispness when exposed to humidity. They also soften on contact with cream or fruit, so if you want to keep them crisp, combine them just before eating.

To store them, let them cool completely before sealing them airtight. When freezing them as well, keep them away from odors and moisture, and handle them so they are not crushed, for example by stacking them only lightly. Condensation that forms when they are brought back to room temperature is also a cause of moisture returning. How they are cooled, how they are packaged, and when they are combined with other components also affect their texture.

Using aquafaba in place of egg whites

Some meringues are made by whipping aquafaba, the cooking liquid of chickpeas, in place of egg whites. This mixture, too, becomes a small confection when it is whipped into a foam and baked dry while holding its shape.

Glossary

Parade'sMeringue Cookies / Meringues

Carefully baked by Cafe & Sweets Parade Kyoto, a pastry shop in Fushimi-Momoyama, Kyoto, these meringue cookies are appealing for their light texture.

Because the ingredients are simple, we pay special attention to their distinctive texture: crisp the moment you put one in your mouth, then melting away softly. We finish them by carefully judging every step of the process, from the state of the whipping and the way the sugar is added to the balance between drying and baking. Light as they are, these are delicate baked sweets, and each one shows the care of handwork.

Instead of white sugar, we sweeten them with kibi sugar (Japanese cane sugar), which is gentle on the body. This gives a gentle, mellow sweetness without sharp edges. The flavors of the ingredients themselves come through, and the aftertaste is surprisingly light.

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