These Peppermint Meringue Cookies are light and airy meringue cookies with a delicious seasonal twist. They are only 5 ingredients, and practically melt in your mouth!
Meringue cookies are one of my favorites, and this holiday version is such a delicious twist. I love the crunchy shells, with the sweet minty flavor!
These meringue kisses are perfectly elegant. They are beautiful white and red cookies, with their crispy outsides and light melt in your mouth centers. They’ll be a new favorite for you to make all year long, but especially during the Christmas season.
Why these are the best Peppermint Meringue Cookies
- Only 6 ingredients to make these light and airy cookies
- Light Texture – These minty fresh cookies practically melt in your mouth. With a crisp outer shell, and airy center
- Festive Appearance – Add red food coloring, or sprinkled candy cane pieces on top of these cookies to make them extra festive and fun for a holiday cookie tray
Ingredients needed to make Peppermint Meringues
This is a quick overview of the ingredients you’ll need for this Peppermint Meringue Recipe. Specific measurements and full recipe instructions are in the printable recipe card below.
- Egg Whites – separate them from the yolks with they are cold, then let them sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before making the cookies
- Cream of Tartar – this helps to stabilize the egg whites
- Salt – just a dash for flavor
- Granulated Sugar – You can also use caster (a super fine) sugar
- Peppermint Extract – for the perfect mint flavor
- Red Food coloring – red gel food coloring painted inside the piping bag to add the red color
- Candy Cane pieces – these are optional, but you can add crushed candy canes to the outside of the meringues for a cute look
How to make Peppermint Meringue Recipe?
- Start by separating your egg white from the egg yolk. Do this one at a time in a bowl, then transfer each to the large mixing bowl. This will help prevent any broken egg yolks from getting into your mixture, so you can throw out an individual egg instead of the whole thing if this happens. Then let them sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes, if you have the time.
- Beat the eggs. Add the cream of tartar and salt to the egg whites. Beat the egg whites on low speed in a large bowl with a hand mixer (or the bowl of a stand mixer). Beat them on low until they are foamy, then slowly raise the speed to high.
- Add in the sugar. When the mixer is on high speed, add in the sugar 1 Tablespoon at a time, mixing about 30 seconds after each addition. Once the sugar is added, continue to beat the mixture until it is thick, shiny, and glossy and you have stiff peaks. You want the peaks to be hard enough to not fall back onto themselves. Add the peppermint extract into the mixture, and mix it in completely.
- Brush the paint with the red food coloring in streaks up the inside of the piping bag, fitted with your choice of a piping tip. You can do 3-4 stripes.
- Spoon the meringue mixture into the bag, by placing it upright inside a large empty cup. Filling it with 1 to 2 cups of the filling. Fold back the top of the bag, and twist it to seal.
- Pipe the cookies onto two parchment paper lined baking sheets in small dollops. You want to space them about 1 inch apart from each other to allow a little spread and airflow. Sprinkle the peppermint candy pieces onto the cookies if desired
- Bake the cookies in the oven at a low temperature for 1 hour. Turn the oven off and keep the pans in the oven for another hour. Test the meringues, to see if they have crispy edges and lift easily from the parchment paper. Also, if they are chewy inside, leave them in the oven longer.
Tips and Tricks:
- Separate the egg whites one at a time into a separate bowl before adding them to your large mixing bowl. You don’t want to risk mixing any egg yolks into the batch or this will ruin the whole batch.
- Slowly add the sugar into the egg whites, only add 1-2 Tablespoons of sugar at a time to make sure the sugar is getting fully dissolved into the eggs.
- Dip into chocolate. If desired, melt 1 cup of chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in 30 second intervals, until you can stir it smooth. Dip the bottoms of the cookies into the melted chocolate. Sprinkle with crushed peppermints if desired. Then return them to the cookie sheet to let the chocolate set.
- Ziplock bag. If you don’t have piping bags, you can use a ziplock bag with the corner cut off, and pipe dollops onto your baking sheet.
- Piping Tip. I used a 1M Piping Tip for these rosette shapes.
Peppermint Meringue Cookies FAQ:
How to store leftover Peppermint Meringues?
These peppermint meringues are best kept in a dry place at room temperature. Store them in an airtight container and they should stay good for about two weeks.
What makes meringues chewy in the middle?
Meringues can be chewy in the centers from a couple things, because they are made on a humid day, where there is extra moisture in the air (rainy day, etc.) or because they were underbaked.
If your meringues are chewy after baking them you can place them back on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake them for about 10 minutes at 200F.
If you prefer your meringues chewy inside, then you can chose to let them cool for a shorter amount of time in the oven, for a softer center.
Can I use peppermint oil instead of peppermint extract?
You can use peppermint oil instead of peppermint extract. However, peppermint oil is stronger than extract because it is not diluted, so you may only need about 1/8 of a teaspoon.
These peppermint meringues are such a nice holiday cookie. They’re light, airy, with a crispy shell, and a nice vanilla mint flavor. They’re a great pretty cookie to add to your cookie tray!
More holiday cookie recipes:
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Meringue Cookies
- Nutella Cookies
- Funfetti Cookies – add red, white, and green sprinkles to make them festive
- Hot Chocolate Cookies
Peppermint Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 large egg whites
- 1 dash salt
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 cup granulated sugar (can substitute for caster – super fine – sugar)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/4 cup crushed candy cane pieces (optional)
- 1/4 tsp red gel food coloring (optional)
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
- Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and add the egg whites to a large mixing bowl. (Discard of the egg yolks, or add them to an omelet, or use them otherwise). Let them sit out for about 30 minutes to warm up to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking pans, or a large baking pan with parchment paper, and set them aside.
- Add the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt to a large bowl and mix them together on low speed until it becomes foamy. A stand mixer, or hand mixer works for this.
- Slowly increase the mixer speed to medium high, and add the sugar to the mixing bowl 1 Tablespoon at a time. Making sure the sugar is completely dissolved before adding the next tablespoon, this will take about 20-30 seconds between each addition.
- Continue to mix until the mixture is thick, shiny, and has stiff peaks. This will take several minutes.
- Add in the vanilla extract, and peppermint extract and mix it into the mixture until just combined. Add red food coloring now if desired.
- Spoon the egg mixture into a large piping bag with a large star tip. (1M is pictured) Sprinkle tops with candy cane pieces if desired.
- Pipe the meringue onto the prepared cookie sheet in small dollops, about 1 to 1.5 inches in size, and each about 1 inch apart, until all the mixture is piped onto the cookie sheets.
- Bake the pans in the oven for 1 hour.
- Turn off the heat, and leave the meringue pans in the oven for 1 to 2 hours without opening the oven door, so they completely dry out. (They should be crisp on the outside, and lift freely from the parchment paper).
- Carefully remove from the parchment paper and serve, or store in an airtight container.
Canopas says
These peppermint meringue cookies look absolutely divine! The combination of crisp meringue and the festive touch of peppermint is making my mouth water.