Vegan Meringues (Aquafaba Cookies)

Light, delicate and the perfect amount of sweetness. These vegan meringues can be enjoyed as is, crumbled onto other desserts or topped with your favourite toppings. Aquafaba cookies also make a wonderful gift.

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Jump to:

• 😋Why you’ll love this recipe
• ✔️What You’ll Need
• ❓ What is aquafaba?
• 🥘Ingredient Notes
• 🔪Step-By-Step
• ✔️Variations
• 💭Pro Tips
• 💡What to serve with?
• ❓FAQ
• 🥘Related recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Community

If you love a light, dainty treat, then you will adore these vegan meringues. They are very straightforward to whisk up and require minimal ingredients.

Vegan meringues go by a few names, including aquafaba cookies, aquafaba meringues, eggless meringues, chickpea meringues and vegan meringue cookies.

These meringues are made with aquafaba and have been flavoured with rose water. You can however flavour them as you please. 

Once baked into little clouds of delight, they just melt in your mouth. I just love how, unlike traditional meringues, vegan meringues are sans eggy flavour.

😋Why you’ll love this recipe

• Very easy to make
• Gluten free
• Aquafaba cookies make a great little gift

✔️What You’ll Need

❓ What is aquafaba?

Aquafaba is the combination of two Latin words ‘aqua’ and ‘faba’ which means ‘water’ ‘beans’, it’s essentially a nicer way of saying bean water. 

Most commonly referred to as chickpea water, chickpea juice, chickpea liquid or chickpea brine.

Though you can also you other bean water, think kidney bean.

The easiest way to obtain aquafaba is to drain it from a can of organic chickpeas or beans. 

Here's a list of aquafaba recipes to try, aquafaba isn’t only limited to making vegan meringues.

🥘Ingredient Notes

• Aquafaba - I prefer to use chickpea water from an organic can of chickpeas*. I find it fluffs up better than other beans. Room temperature aquafaba is preferred.
• Rose water - I like to add Cortas, Rose Water* it is a light fragrant flavouring
• Raw sugar is used to sweeten these, however you could make plain meringues if you wish.
• White vinegar is used to help the chickpea water form stiff peaks.

🔪Step-By-Step

Let’s get to how to make vegan meringues;

Step 1 - In a bowl, add aquafaba, rose water and white vinegar. 

Step 2 - Beat everything together until soft peaks form with either a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, an electric whisk or the old fashion way, just a whisk. 

Once soft peaks have form, add raw sugar, one tablespoon at a time until all used up. Leave a 10-second gap between adding spoonfuls.

Step 3 - Once stiff peaks are formed, (your beaten chickpea meringue is ready when the bowl can be turned upside down and the mixture does not slide or drip out of the bowl. It holds its shape), prepare your baking sheet tray. 

If using baking paper add a dot of meringue in each corner and place the baking paper onto it. Or use a silicone mat laid onto the sheet tray

Step 4 - Fill a piping bag with aquafaba meringue and pipe bite-sized discs onto the tray. Ensure each disc is evenly sized to maintain even baking.

Step 5 - Place in a preheated (conventional setting) oven at 100C (210F), either ½ or ¾ down (not the top of the oven) for 90 minutes. Take the chickpea meringues out of the oven and allow them to cool down to room temperature.

The vegan meringues are ready when they are easily peeled off the baking paper.

✔️Variations

• Flavouring can be changed to suit, you can add flavours like vanilla, amaretto or coffee
• Vinegar can be substituted with fresh lemon juice

💭Pro Tips

Utensils & equipment used to make aquafaba meringues should be spotless, a small amount of any type of residue can stop the meringues from rising.

A piping bag* make is easy to achieve a round cookie shape, however you can just spoon out the meringue onto the tray, just make sure to try and get them as even as possible in size.

Alternatively, if you don’t have a piping bag and want to use one, use a snap-lock bag and cut off the tip of one corner.

A silicone baking mat* is super easy to work with and the chickpea meringues pop off so easily once they are cooled. I highly recommend buying one. Can be used with other baked goods too.

Colouring - If you desire your vegan meringues to be coloured, add a drop or two into the vegan meringue.

You can do this whilst whisking or you can fold this in once stiff peaks have formed to create swirls.

Aquafaba meringues should be beaten just until it holds together, forms stiff peaks and doesn’t slide out of the bowl when turned upside down.

Over beating or under beating can cause the chickpea meringues to collapse whilst baking.

Oven should be set to a conventional setting and not fan-forced, as the fan can send these lightweight meringues into a flying mess in your oven.

💡What to serve with?

Vegan meringues can be enjoyed on their own, with fresh fruit or as part of another dessert. They can be crumbled and used to top off nice cream or a pudding.

Or try dipping these vegan meringue cookies into melted chocolate and sprinkle your favourite nuts on top. Pop them into the fridge for a few minutes until chocolate hardens.

Or have one with a nice cup of herbal tea.

❓FAQ

🥘Related recipes

Did you enjoy learning how to make vegan meringues? I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment below and give me a rating. This will help me sustain Plant Based Folk. 

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Janelle x

📖 Recipe

Looking for other sweet treats? Try Plant Based Folk's No Bake Chocolate Pretzel Slice or these 3 ingredient chocolate truffles.