I hope everyone had a very happy and hopefully relaxing Thanksgiving holiday! We had a quiet holiday here in PA, and I’m happy to say that my meal went quite smoothly without any major disasters or hiccups.
I love making meringue cookies in general; they are relatively easy to whip up and fat-free. As an added bonus, they are also gluten-free, for anyone who it gluten intolerant. I’ve had these particular meringue cookies bookmarked for at least a month now, and finally got around to making them last week. Nutella and light as air meringue – delicious!
I was back and forth on whether or not to use cream of tartar in the meringue cookies, as some recipes call for it and others do not. From what I found online, the results were mixed, so I turned to my trusty Cooks Illustrated book, and found my answer. According to the good folks at CI, many meringue cookie recipes call for an acid (like cream of tartar) which is supposed to help egg proteins unwind faster, bond better and then stabilize egg whites. However after testing it with and without acid, they determined that leaving out the cream of tartar allowed for a wider range to add sugar, and actually made a more stable meringue. So I nixed the cream of tartar.
Nutella Meringue Cookies
Slightly adapted from Cream Puffs in Venice and Diane A Broad Makes 20 to 25 meringues, depending on how large you make them 3 large egg whites, at room temperature 1 pinch of salt 1/2 cup, plus 1 tablespoon, granulated sugar 1/4 cup NutellaPosition oven racks in the bottom third and the upper third of oven. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl, warm Nutella in microwave; this will take about 30 seconds to 1 minute depending on your microwave. The Nutella should be just melted and appear pour-able. Alternately if you do not have a microwave, this can be accomplished with a double boiler. Set aside.
Put egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat egg whites on medium-high until the whites are foamy and just start to form soft peaks; this should take about a minute. Increase speed to high and very slowly add sugar over several minutes. Whites are done when all sugar is incorporated and stiff peaks form.
Remove the bowl from stand mixer and pour in Nutella. With a rubber spatula, carefully fold Nutella into the meringue in three or four strokes. Do not over mix, as you want to keep the swirled effect.
Using two spoons, drop the meringue onto prepared baking sheets in large dollops. Though they don’t really puff up or spread, I placed mine about one inch apart.
Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 200 degrees F and rotate the trays top to bottom, front to back. Bake for an hour. Meringues are done when they feel dry. If meringues are tacky keep baking until dry, checking every 10 minutes. When meringues are done turn oven off. Let cookies cool in the oven for at least one hour.
Cooled meringues will keep in an airtight container for a week.
Lokness says
Meringues are delightful little cookies. With a swirl of nutella, that sounds even better. Yum…
Esther says
Can u mix it by hand? And do u have to move it top to bottom n rotate back to front?
heather says
You certainly can, but it will probably be quite the workout. I would make sure you have a rounded bottom bowl, and a large whisk; a helper to sprinkle in the sugar would also be a good idea.
Jenn says
Worst recipe ever!!!!!!!
heather says
Hi Jen! Sorry these didn’t work out for you (or you just didn’t like them). However more constructive feedback would have been appreciated. Thanks!
Anai says
Great idea but the oven temp at 300 was to hot. Also opening the oven and turning the cookies deflates them! Next time, I will try the temp at 200 and leaving the cookies to fluff and dry in the oven for an hour. Mine came flat but delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Cady says
Just made these and they are DELICIOUS. Thank you so much for posting a recipe 🙂
Zoë says
Just made these and they are so delicious! Super good and well written recipe! I’m only a teen and found this recipe very easy to follow! Thanks so much!
heather says
Excellent; glad you liked them! Thanks for the comment!!
milly says
i love cookies!
will be making these tomorrow!
WISH ME LUCK 😉
Jonnyc says
I bake cookies all the time and had always been a little afraid of meringues. Nutella is one of my favorites and I decided to give it a go. They turned out so dang amazing! I always bake for my boyfriend’s office and even though they somehow figure a way to eat them all they always seem to have a gripe about the fat content. I baked these as an alternative and they loved them. Most of all I am proud that I made them and proud that others enjoy them. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Anne says
Everyone loves these guilt free snacks! They are easy to make and delicious! I used a little less sugar and they were still delicious
Teri says
I made these last night and brought them for my senior exercise class to try out. They all loved them! Fantastic treat and you can have more than one without feeling guilty. Thanks!!!!!!
Janella says
Can I use oven toaster for this recipe?
heather says
No; you’ll want an oven for these.
Lindsey says
These are amazing ! Mine came out perfect. Thank you so much
heather says
Thanks 🙂
Cathy Zimmermann says
We had this type of cookie in Vilters Switzerland at a small bakery. The ones we had seemed to me to be 2 cookies put together with Nutella but I will try this recipe.thanks Cathy
Laura says
These were very easy to make and super yummy. I’d probably use a bit less sugar next time, and my oven took about an hour and a half to bake them.
marian says
I made these yesterday……..all gone today. Delish….they looked great. I followed the baking instructions to a “t” and they were perfect….light, airy, crisp and tasty.
Angelica Allan says
This recipe is great! It even melts in your mouth I made it by hand too!