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You only need a few simple ingredients for these lemon meringue cookies! These meringue cookies are full of fresh lemon flavour!
A couple of days ago we celebrated my son Walter’s SEVENTH birthday! I can’t believe it! The years are just flying by way too quickly! At least I know we are making a ton of memories throughout these years. I’m hoping that my baking for the kids will become one of their favourite memories too!
It’s no secret I love to experiment with different cookies. The other day I had been thinking about the peppermint kiss meringue cookies I had around Christmas time. I thought about recreating the peppermint version but decided that lemon would be better for this time of year! Spring and summer always feels like the best time to have a lemon dessert. These lemon meringue cookies are a super easy cookie that anyone can make. They only require a few ingredients, and they’re so pretty!
What are meringue cookies?
Meringue cookies are one of those recipes that look a little complicated but they are actually quite simple! These cookies are basically made of air, egg whites and powdered sugar. Oh, and a little bit of cream of tartar and a pinch of salt! For the lemon meringue version, these cookies will also need a bit of lemon extract! The end result of these ingredients is a light, slightly crunchy cookie with an iconic swirl.
You’ll need the following ingredients for lemon meringue cookies:
- egg whites
- powdered sugar
- cream of tartar
- salt
- lemon extract
- optional: lemon zest
How do you make lemon meringue cookies?
It’s best if you have a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment for this recipe. If you don’t have one, you could also use a handheld electric mixer! Prepare for the cookies by setting out your egg whites about 2-3 hours before you plan to use them as you’ll want them to at room temperature. If you’re in a rush, you can also place the eggs (untracked) in a bowl of very warm water for about 5 minutes to get them up to room temperature!
1. Preheat the oven to 225 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of the stand mixer, add the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Beat the whites on high for one minute – the mixture will start to get very frothy looking.
2. With the mixer running on low, slowly add the sugar. Once the sugar is all added, turn the mixer up to high again until stiff peaks begin to form.
3. Continue to run the mixer on high for another 30 seconds to a minute or until the peaks are stiff and glossy. Remove the mixing bowl from the stand and fold in the lemon extract. If you’re using lemon zest, you could fold that in now too.
Note: If you do decide to use lemon zest, be sure it is very fine zest. One problem I had the first time I made these is that the zest got stuck in the piping bag as I tried to pipe out the meringue. Use a large star tip if you’ve used zest!
4. Insert a large open star tip into the bottom of a piping bag. If you want to add some yellow streaks to the meringue cookies like I have in my photos, add a few streaks of yellow food colouring down the sides of the bag before filing the bag with the meringue mixture. Pipe the meringue out on to the parchment paper, about a tablespoon at a time. Don’t worry about having perfect designs!
5. Fill the baking sheet with meringue drop cookies until the bag is empty. Don’t worry about the cookies getting too close together as they won’t spread in the oven! Bake the cookies in the oven for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and leave the cookies in the oven for another hour or two before opening the door. After two hours, you can remove the cookies from the oven, and once cooled completely, place them in an airtight container to store.
How long do these cookies last?
Stored in an airtight container, these cookies will stay light and crunchy for about a week to 10 days. You could also freeze these cookies! Just be sure not to crush the cookies if you’re trying to seal the air out of the freezer bag.
Do you need to use a piping bag for this recipe?
It’s not necessary but it definitely makes for cleaner, prettier looking cookies! You could also use a spoon to drop the meringue on to the baking sheet by the tablespoon.
The tip I like to use in my piping bag is the Wilton 8B, open star tip!
Some of my other favourite cookies from the blog:
Lemon Meringue Cookies
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 30 cookies 1x
Description
You only need a few simple ingredients for these lemon meringue cookies! These meringue cookies are full of fresh lemon flavour!
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites, room temperature
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- optional: zest of 1/2 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 225 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Beat the whites on high for one minute – the mixture will start to get very frothy looking.
- With the mixer running on low, slowly add the sugar. Once the sugar is all added, turn the mixer up to high again until stiff peaks begin to form.
- Continue to run the mixer on high for another 30 seconds to a minute or until the peaks are stiff and glossy. Remove the mixing bowl from the stand and fold in the lemon extract. If you’re using lemon zest, you could fold that in now too.*
- Insert a large open star tip** into the bottom of a piping bag. If you want to add some yellow streaks to the meringue cookies like I have in my photos, add a few streaks of yellow food colouring down the sides of the bag before filing the bag with the meringue mixture. Pipe the meringue out on to the parchment paper, about a tablespoon at a time. Don’t worry about having perfect designs!
- Fill the baking sheet with meringue drop cookies until the bag is empty. Don’t worry about the cookies getting too close together as they won’t spread in the oven! Bake the cookies in the oven for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and leave the cookies in the oven for another hour or two before opening the door. After two hours, you can remove the cookies from the oven, and once cooled completely, place them in an airtight container to store.
Cookies can be stored at room temperature, in an airtight container, for 1 week to 10 days. They can also be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Notes
*If you do decide to use lemon zest, be sure it is very fine zest. One problem I had the first time I made these is that the zest got stuck in the piping bag as I tried to pipe out the meringue. Use a large star tip if you’ve used zest!
**I use the Wilton 8B open star tip
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: cookies
- Method: oven bake
- Cuisine: american
