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These elegant chocolate-dipped Meringue Cookies are light, crisp, and delicate. They practically melt in your mouth. Plus, they’re a total crowd-pleaser!
These meringue cookies are miraculously light, airy confections that practically melt in your mouth. Made from just a few simple ingredients — primarily egg whites and sugar— they are SO easy. But none of your guests would know it.
These cookies are one of the most elegant little desserts you’ve ever laid eyes on and they LOOK (and taste) like you spent the whole day slaving over them.
Leave ’em plain or dip them in dark chocolate for a black and white tuxedo look and watch as people flock to the dessert table. Oh, oh AND each cookie only has like 30ish calories in it (sans chocolate), so you can kind of have as many as you want.
Why I Love This Recipe
- SO easy. 1 bowl. 6 ingredients. That’s all it takes to make these gorgeous little desserts. The hardest part is waiting the 3 hours it takes them to bake and cool.
- Elegant. Dressed in black and white, these beautiful meringues are sure to turn heads. Everyone will think you slaved over them. No need to tell them how easy they were to make.
Ingredient Notes
You’ll only need a few ingredients for this meringue cookies recipe. Here’s a quick look at what you’ll need. Be sure to scroll to the recipe card below for a printable list.
For the cookies
- Egg whites – From large eggs. Bring your eggs to room temperature before using. They will whip up better.
- Cream of tartar – The cream of tartar help add structure to the meringue.
- Granulated sugar
- Pure vanilla extract – You could add a dash of almond extract in addition to or instead of vanilla.
For the chocolate
- Dark chocolate chips – I chopped mine up for easier melting. You could use milk or white chocolate chips here instead, if you’d prefer.
- Vegetable oil – The vegetable oil gives the chocolate a nice sheen and makes it the perfect consistency for dipping.
Getting Stiff Peaks for Meringue
- Clean and dry: Start with a TOTALLY dry, TOTALLY clean mixing bowl for the batter. Any extra moisture or grease will get in the way of the egg whites whipping into perfect stiff peaks.
- Room temperature eggs: Room temperature egg whites will whip up into stiff peaks much more easily than cold egg whites.
- A note on separating egg whites from the yolks: I highly suggest separating your whites from your yolks using two bowls. Even a tiny fleck of yolk could ruin your meringues. Crack one egg at a time into a clean, dry bowl, discarding the yolk. Transfer the white to the mixing bowl you intend to make the batter in. Repeat with the remaining eggs.
- Have patience: Whip the egg whites until foamy before adding the cream of tarter and beating until soft peaks form. Finally, add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time (I mean it) until stiff peaks form.
- Don’t over-whip: Once you see those stiff peaks, STOP! Over-beating the batter will ruin your perfect stiff peaks just as much as anything else.
Shaping the Meringue Cookies
One of the many beautiful things about these cookies is that you can kind of shape them any way you’d like. Some people choose to put the batter in a piping bag and pipe the cookies into swirls. Others choose to spoon dollops of batter onto the baking sheet for a more free-form cookies.
It’s totally up to you. I think I prefer the piping method for a more elegant outcome.
Additional Tips & Variation Ideas
- Rotate the pan: The little meringues deserve even baking, don’t you think? Rotate the pan halfway through the baking time to ensure each and every meringue gets what it needs.
- Cool INSIDE the oven: Once the baking time is up, turn the oven off and let the meringues cool completely in the oven. They will finish baking during this time. Only remove them when they are no longer sticking to the parchment paper (or your fingers).
- Let the chocolate set at room temp: I get that you want to speed the process along, but do not stick the chocolate-dipped meringues in the fridge. Let the melted chocolate solidify on the cookies at room temperature.
- No chocolate, no problem: I decided I wanted to dip my meringues in chocolate, but don’t have to. They are pretty amazing as is.
- Dipping options: Not a dark chocolate fan? Feel free to replace the dark chocolate with milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, or even white chocolate. Heck…you could melt down peanut butter or butterscotch chips if you wanted to! And feel free to sprinkle some chopped nuts, pretzels, or candy cane over the chocolate coating before it dries.
- Extract exploration: Vanilla extract is a classic choice here, but you could replace it with a smaller amount of almond extract, lemon extract, or even peppermint extract for the holidays.
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Black and White Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIES
- 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
FOR THE CHOCOLATE
- ¼ cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
For the meringues
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 200°F. Arrange two oven racks to divide the oven into thirds. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Beat the egg whites. Add the egg whites to a large mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer on high speed, beat until they become foamy and start to hold their shape slightly.
- Add the cream of tartar, sugar, and vanilla. Once the egg whites are foamy, add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Then, gradually add the sugar, about 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue until the egg whites are glossy and hold stiff peaks. Be careful not to overbeat. Finally, add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.
- Pipe and bake. Pipe or spoon 24 mounds (about 2 inches wide) onto the prepared baking sheets. Transfer to the oven and bake for 2 hours, rotating the pans halfway through to ensure even baking.
- Let the meringues set. Turn the oven off and leave the meringues inside to cool for 40 minutes to 1 hour. They’re done when the surface feels dry, and they lift cleanly off the parchment without sticking to your fingers.
- Transfer and serve. Remove the meringues from the oven and carefully transfer them from the parchment to a serving plate.
For the chocolate
- Melt the chocolate. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine the chopped chocolate chips and vegetable oil. Microwave for 40 seconds to 1 minute, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth and melted.
- Dip the meringues. Dip half of each meringue into the melted chocolate. Let the excess drip off, then place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with wax paper.
- Let the chocolate set before serving. Allow the dipped meringues to sit at room temperature until the chocolate is fully set. Don’t refrigerate. Once set, serve or store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
These cookies are gorgeous! Almost too pretty to eat. Almost. I also will do anything to avoid getting sick. Garlic works! I eat it everyday. Apple cider vinegar is another good choice.
Garlic and pineapple juice sounds awful. Let me know if it helps though – I’ll do just about anything to avoid illness!
These look awesome. My meringues always brown so I’m definitely going to try your recipe.
Well aren’t these cookies pretty! Love that dip (or dunk!) in chocolate!
Oh, delightful! De-“lite”ful? Haha…nice to know they are a great that borders on the healthy side of things:)
HAHA!! I LOVE IT! 😀 Thank you, ELLEN! xo