This is my second adventure in making vegan meringue. This time, I whipped up some simple vegan meringue cookies using a different liquid.
Chickpea meringue has a slight beany taste, and I am happy to report that white bean juice makes a much milder vegan meringue! These cookies were crisp, sweet, and not at all beany.
You will want to eat these menringues pretty much right away, though. Mine sat out on the kitchen counter yesterday, and they went from crispy to chewy in a few hours. This is definitely not a make-ahead recipe. I wish I’d stuck some in the fridge, so I could tell you how that shook out!
Since first tasting the garbanzo bean meringue, I knew that I wanted white bean to be my next meringue experiment. Unfortunately, the vegan meringue group had a post on white bean, and it was a total miss. BUT! The person who had the fail suspected that this was because white beans give off less liquid than garbanzo beans. Since I’m using a 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 adding the juice from a second can of beans and doubling the recipe.
The white bean juice took a lot longer to come together than the chickpeas: a good 25 minutes of beating on high. The chickpea meringue took closer to 15.
Note: When you make meringues with bean juice, you’re left with lots of beans. If you need a recipe for your white beans, try my gnocchi soup with beans and greens or southwest white bean stew!
But that’s enough about beans. Let’s make some cookies!
This recipe is another mashup. I wanted to try using a stabilizer in my meringue this go-round, but we were out of cream of tartar. According to Cook’s Thesaurus, though, you can use vinegar in place of cream of tartar, just triple the amount. So, my vegan meringue cookies are a veganized version of this one, using vinegar instead of cream of tartar.
Vegan Meringue Cookies
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 200F.
- 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 list 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!
Nicole Dawson
I have yet to have any success with making meringue cookies using aquafaba but I’m going to keep trying. You’ve given me hope!
Becky Striepe
You can do it!!
olivia
I whipped it for 30 min lol
Radhika
I made a batch of ice cream using chick peas water, but it tastes so much beany, why so?
And also like other people reported that it flattens down when we add flavoring, I added vanilla extract and it got flat, still I kept it in freezer, let see what happens..
Becky Striepe
The chickpea brine does taste be any to me, also. You might try white bean instead. It’s a lot more neutral.
Kd Marabello
I cooked the white beans myself. So how much liquid do I measure out for this recipe?
Becky Striepe
Hmm good question! I have not used the liquid from home-cooked beans. I’d say start with 1/2 cup liquid, and add the sugar more slowly, until you get stiff peaks.
Ajne
I was just looking through the comments to see if anyone else had the same idea to use the liquid from homemade beans instead of canned. Have you tried this and how much liquid did you end up using? Did you use the soakwater or the cooking water? My idea is that the cooking water might have more in the way of starch.
Becky Striepe
I’ve heard folks have success with this, and I think they simmer it further to thicken before using . The canned bean liquid is thicker than cooked. Definitely the cooking water, not soaking. I’d say 3/4 cups liquid should work.
Maggie
I cooked a half pound of chick peas in water to cover by 2 inches. Cooked until just tender. I sorted the beans from the water. 1/2 cup of this water whipped up quickly and made the cutest meringues until I tried to bake them at 425F. They puddled on me. Suddenly. It was fun to watch. Back to the lab. I mean kitchen.
Becky Striepe
Oh bummer! You might try simmering the liquid to reduce it some. I think the canned liquid is thicker than from fresh beans. Also! Did you use cream of tarter or vinegar? A little acidity helps a lot! Keep us posted, and thank you so much for sharing your experiences!!
CountyGrrl
I stuck mine in the fridge today (because I brought some sticky ones to work) and they did get back to being crispy… almost crispier than when they first came out of the oven. Worth a try on a bigger batch.
Becky Striepe
Ooh that is good to know! Were they on a plate or in a container?
Deb B
Just tried for the first time and so far so good. I was amazed at how the garbanzo bean liquid whipped up into meringue. Very excited it worked for me first time. They are still in the oven, about 1 hour left to the final results. Because I didn’t believe 1 – 15oz can could produce a lot of vegan meringues for a crowd, I doubled it and used 2 cans. Not a good idea unless you have big commercial ovens. LOL Thank’s for a great vegan meringue. I am looking forward to trying other beans for the color aspect. A bean meringue for every holiday!
Becky Striepe
Isn’t it exciting when it comes together that first time? When those stiff peaks first formed I did a meringue dance!
Julie
I tried the meringue recipe today with juice from my own cooked beans. They were setting up nicely, but not yet at stiff peaks,
I turned my Kitchen Aid on high to finish. beating. Apparently it was too strong!
When I added a teaspoon of flavour, the meringue collapsed completely! (I had added cream of tartar before to stabilize, and had beaten it in for a few minutes.) I also had the juice at room temp, since that is what you do with eggs.
Any ideas of why that happened??
Becky Striepe
Oh man! What a bummer. It’s hard to say, since bean liquid can vary. You might have needed more sugar, since that can help it get stiffer. Overbeating is another possibility. My cheap I hand mixer may not get as high speed as a stand mixer. Don’t give up! I had a couple of epic fails too before finding the sweet spot. (Did my pun take the edge off at all?)
Julie
The other thing is that I sprout my beans, and toss the soaking water. Should I be using the soaking water to cook them? I can add seaweed to take some of the gas out of the beans.
Becky Striepe
Hmm that might help. I know it’s the protein in the bean water that helps. Do you think the seaweed would leave a taste in the water, though?
Julie
It would add salt for sure. Most canned beans have salt added anyway. I didn’t a pinch of salt when I tried the meringues
Poppy
Ah, So sweeeeeet Becky! They are adorable! I’m so glad you had success with a different kind of bean, I’m sure all they other beans were starting to envy the attention the chickpea was getting!! <3
Becky Striepe
Yeah! I was nervous when they took so long to form peaks, but it finally worked! I’ve seen folks also mention red beans and want to try that too!
narf77
Excellent share and cheers for all of the additional links. I am going to get brave and attempt to use a can of black beans to see if I can’t make black meringues. Imagine black meringues with matcha or black sesame paste filling? I am also going to see if I can’t use this mix (minus the sugar) to make fluffier vegan omelettes.
Becky Striepe
Oh man. Please report back on all of these things!
Joël
Hi, please to see this delicious recipe ! Just to inform you that I discovered the chickpeas’ white and that you’ll find some more recipes from my blog (www.revolutionvegetale.com).
I’ll also pubish recipes that refers to my work 🙂
Andrea
It took me a long time before I could add beans to cake, but now one of my favorite recipes contains beans. Maybe someday I’ll be able to make the leap to bean liquid meringue. 🙂
Becky Striepe
I believe in you, Andrea!