Vegan Meringue Cookies
Everyone, meet the *unicorn* of allergen-friendly baking. Looking for something:
Dairy free?
Nut free?
Egg free?
Gluten free?
Eco friendly?
Practically free?
Very cute?
These cookies are puffy, crispy, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth, fulfill all your childhood dreams in one!
How is this magic possible? Let's dive in.
Method
Recipe source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuvsCqiYgY8&t=542s
Watch the FULL video by this creator called The Crazy Vegan for the full tutorial. She is adamant that following each step and rule is crucial for success.
Keep reading for my results step by step.
Dairy-Free Ingredients and Modifications:
No changes needed! This recipe is naturally dairy free.
The star ingredient is aquafaba. When you eat your next can of chickpeas, save the juice! That's your aquafaba.
To learn more, read this article from America's Test Kitchen.
I found that the leftover liquid from a standard 15 oz can of chickpeas was more than sufficient for this recipe.
You will need a high powered stand mixer for this particular project. It calls for whisking for 15 minutes with this machine, so I cannot imagine the arm strength and endurance that would require for mixing by hand. If you can do this, please wave hi, if your arm can handle it.
Procedural Notes
Note: If you're trying to save electricity, I would hold off on preheating your oven until a little later. There aren't too many complicated steps, but the preparation takes a little while.
1. First, I started to beat the aquafaba, vanilla, and cream of tartar (and in my case, a few drops of pink food coloring) until soft peaks formed.
Figure 1. Soft peaks in the aquafaba.
2. Then, I gradually added the sugar at the precise amounts and timing recommended by the recipe creator. It'll look like it's ready to go now, but don't be fooled. Proceed to Step 3. Do not pass Go.
Figure 2. Meringue development after addition of sugar.
3. Next, I continued to *let it whip.*
Figures 3-4. Stages of Readiness (joke for all you Transtheoretical Model of Change nerds).
4. Now, I preheated my oven (it only needs to get to a low temperature), and piped cookies into desired shapes (or attempted). You don't need to leave much space in between the cookies, as they will not expand much (change is on the inside, awww).
5. Finally, I was very patient and followed the directions to bake, then keep them in the oven with the heat turned off, all the while not opening it. Should you trust the process? Onward to the results.
Results
Trust the process - results yielded crispy, melt in your mouth, sweet, and adorably cute cookies!
They did not taste like chickpeas or any beans. Unless you wanted to try a mocha flavor! Actually, that sounds really good. You know what I'll be doing after I finish this post!
Discussion
With minimal steps and ingredients, these cookies check a lot of boxes, are delicious, and can meet the dietary requirements of many different allergies and needs. They may seem intimidating, but following these steps precisely does yield surprisingly good results!
As noted by the creator, this is for a plain vanilla meringue recipe. I added a few drops of food coloring for aesthetic purposes (my target audience was 3 girls under 5 years old), but you could also add flavors with extracts, citrus zest, etc. Not pictured, but I made these a second time with the addition of 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder. That's also evidence for the reliability of this recipe.
What flavors will you try? Who in your life may enjoy these cookies? The answers are everything and everyone!