These vegan meringue cookies are light, crisp, and sweet with absolutely no beany taste at all. And they're simpler to make than you'd think!
This is my second adventure in making vegan meringue. This time, I whipped up some simple vegan meringue cookies using white bean aquafaba.
Why white bean?
These vegan meringue cookies are made with aquafaba, the liquid from canned beans. Aquafaba is a great egg replacer, and it works like a charm in meringue recipes!
Chickpea aquafaba is the most popular, but you don't have to use the liquid from canned chickpeas. For recipes with a more delicate flavor, white bean is your friend.
Since first tasting chickpea meringue, I knew that I wanted white bean to be my next meringue experiment. The vegan meringue group had a post on white bean, and it was unfortunately a total miss. BUT! The person who had the fail suspected that this was because white beans give off less liquid than garbanzo beans, and their stand mixer couldn't reach enough of the goods.
Since I'm using an electric hand mixer instead of a stand mixer, the level of bean liquid wasn't a problem. If you're using a stand mixer and things aren't working out, try doubling the recipe to get more initial volume.
Chickpea meringue has a slight beany taste, and I am happy to report that white bean liquid makes a much milder vegan meringue! These cookies were crisp, sweet, and not at all beany.
Recipe notes
Before you start whipping, you want to make sure that your bowl is squeaky clean. Oil is the enemy of stiff peaks, so make sure that there's no residual oil in your bowl from a previous recipe.
White bean liquid takes a lot longer to form peaks than chickpea does. Expect a good 25 minutes of beating on high. The chickpea meringue took closer to 15.
But that extra 10 minutes is so worth it for the improved taste!
You will want to eat these meringues pretty much right away. Mine sat out in a sealed container on the kitchen counter yesterday, and they went from crispy to chewy in a few hours. This is definitely not a make-ahead recipe.
What to do with the leftover white beans
When you make meringues with aquafaba, you're left with lots of beans. If you need a recipe for your white beans, try these!
- Pumpkin Baked Orzo with White Beans
- Vegan 3-Bean Chili
- Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta
- Israeli Couscous Salad
But that's enough about beans. Let's make some cookies!
Vegan meringue cookies recipe
Ingredients
- 1 15 ounce can white beans - drained, liquid reserved. You can set those beans aside, because we are done with them!
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar - or lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200° F.
- In a large, high-sided bowl, combine the bean juice, vinegar, and sugar, and whip with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer on high until you’ve got soft peaks. I do not recommend hand-mixing, unless if you’re up for an endurance workout. It took me around 25 minutes to get nice, stiff peaks. You’re not going to get a super dense, sticky texture, but the peaks should hold when you lift the whisk out of the bowl.
- Add vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds, just to incorporate it.
- Scoop tablespoons of your meringue onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or a Silpat (I used a Silpat). I was able to get about 8 onto a single sheet, so you may need to bake in batches. If your meringue falls between batches, just whip it back up – it shouldn’t take nearly as long.
- Bake each batch for 90 minutes to two hours (bigger cookies will take longer). Your cookies are ready when they’re crisp all the way through. If they look runny at all, give them 10 extra minutes, then check again. Turn the oven off, but leave the cookies in there for another 2 hours to cool before removing your vegan meringue cookies from oven.
- I had the best results getting these off of my Silpat by skipping the spatula. Instead, I carefully lifted the Silpat and peeled it away from the cookies ever-so-gently. If the cookies are baked through, they peel right off. It’s kind of satisfying!
- Serve immediately. These will soften within a few hours if you leave them out. They’re still good, but they get a bit sticky and chewy. Sort of like a marshmallow.
Meghan
This looks awesome. Have you tried pipping it? I’d like to attempt making merengue “bones.”
Becky Striepe
Ooh I haven't, but what a cute idea! It should work fine, just make sure your piping bag and tip are both totally clean, if you've used either for frosting in the past. Fat is the enemy of meringue!
Jau
Do we use powdered sugar or regular sugar?
Becky Striepe
I used regular sugar.
Samantha Richardson
I made these the other week for the first time and they were delicious! I doubled the recipe, but only the meringues on the top shelf crisped up (the others were still a wobbly blob - due to my rubbish oven). But I put the remainder of the crispy ones in an airtight bag and they stayed crispy and delicious for at least a week! I ate mine with coconut whipped cream and fruit. Yum!
Becky Striepe
Oh wow! That is great to hear that they kept for so long, and your serving idea sounds delicious!