Vanilla Meringues

Name: Vanilla Meringues
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: About 2 dozen.
Ingredients: 2 egg whites, at room temperature; 2 pinches cream of tartar; 1/8 teaspoon salt; 1/2 vanilla bean, seeds scraped from pod; or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1/2 cup superfine sugar.

By Mark Bittman

Updated May 8, 2023

Vanilla Meringues — Evan Sung for The New York Times

Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes, plus 1 hour’s cooling
Rating: 5(533)
Comments: Read comments

With only a little practice you’ll produce lovely little mounds of meringue with curls like chocolate kisses on top. And when you grow tired of pale white ones, add a couple of drops of food coloring, or follow the recipe modification for cocoa-flavored meringues.

Featured in: Sweet and Pretty, and Lighter Than Air

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Ingredients

Yield:About 2 dozen.

2egg whites, at room temperature
2pinches cream of tartar
⅛teaspoon salt
½vanilla bean, seeds scraped from pod; or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½cup superfine sugar.

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 200 degrees. Use an electric mixer to beat egg whites with cream of tartar, salt and vanilla. When whites begin to hold stiff peaks, gradually add half the sugar. When peaks become glossy, gently fold in remaining sugar.
Step 2
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and use a pastry bag with a star tip or a Ziploc bag with a corner cut out to form small mounds of meringue mixture, each about an inch wide and tall.
Step 3
Bake meringues until hard, about 2 hours. Meringues are ready when they release from parchment paper. Turn oven off, prop door open and allow meringues to sit in oven for another hour or so.

Ratings

5 out of 5

533 user ratings

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Comments

gwenstew7 years ago

I was wondering the same thing! Here's what I found:

For chocolate meringues: Omit vanilla and sift 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder with half the sugar. Add to egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Continue with Step 1.

For pink vanilla meringues: After adding the first 1/4 cup sugar, add a drop or two of pink or red food coloring to mixture. Continue with Step 1.

(Source: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE3DE133BF934A25751C1A...

Kristen7 years ago

I made these and they were wonderful! I added some lavender syrup to one batch and some rose syrup (both Monin brand) to another and they were fantastic! I had to add a little food coloring as well, so I could differentiate between the lavender, rose, and vanilla meringues. I will be making these again very soon. They are definitely kid and adult approved! Great recipe!

Lesley Simpson7 years ago

Easy! I mixed cocoa with espresso powder to make a mocha variation

Mary F7 months ago

Yum yum! I used superfine sugar (Judeeś brand) and had no problems with graininess. So easy and yummy! I piped part of the batter to make vanilla, then stirred in cocoa-espresso powder mixture to the rest and piped them to make chocolate. Delicious!

EJ10 months ago

These little gems are delicious! I had 5 leftover egg whites from another recipe. I doubled this recipe then made half with orange flavoring and yellow food coloring and the other half with coconut flavoring and dusted with sweetened coconut on top. This recipe is very forgiving and turned out perfectly! Thank you Mark Bittman.

Chloe10 months ago

Word of warning: you might need much less baking time. This was my first time baking meringue and mine turned a buff-colored brown after just 1 hour in the oven at 200 F.

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