These light and sweet meringue cookies are made with just three ingredients: egg whites, sugar, and pecans. Great for Christmas or for a Passover or Easter celebration! Start them the night before and let them cool slowly in the oven until morning.
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Pecan Meringue Cookies are a classic cookie for holiday get-togethers, especially Easter! Called Easter cookies or resurrection cookies, they are made with whipped egg whites, sugar, and pecans.
They’re crispy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth on the inside and so easy to make!
Video: How to Make Pecan Meringue Cookies
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Pecan Meringue Cookies
Ingredients for Pecan Meringue Cookies
There are only 3 main ingredients in these meringue cookies:
- protein
- sugar
- pecans
How to Make Pecan Meringue Cookies
- Before you begin, make sure your mixing bowl and whisk are spotlessly clean. Separate your egg whites and let them sit at room temperature for a while (about 30 minutes), toast and chop your pecans.
- Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites in the mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until the egg whites foam into soft peaks.
- Slowly add the sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, allowing the sugar to dissolve into the egg white before adding more. Add 1 teaspoon vinegar and beat the meringue on high speed until glossy and stiff peaks.
- Gently fold in the chopped pecans. Don’t mix too much or you will drain the meringue.
- Place spoonfuls of meringue onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can also squirt them with a star nozzle, but I find the chopped nuts can interfere with the squirt a bit, so I prefer to just drop them with a spoon.
- Bake at 250F for 25 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave the cookies in the oven for another 2-3 hours or overnight (without peaking!).
Tips for meringue cookie success
Making meringue cookies is pretty easy, but keep the following in mind:
- When beating egg whites, always make sure your equipment is sparkling clean! Even the smallest amount of fat left in the bowl can prevent the egg whites from whipping properly. Also, make sure there aren’t any chunks of yolk in your egg whites. Use a piece of eggshell to fish out all of them when you see them.
- Humidity is not your friend. If it’s a rainy or humid day, the meringue cookies may not crisp up well. If that’s the case, you may need to bake them longer.
- Do the cookies brown? Lower the heat. Each oven is calibrated slightly differently. The heat should be high enough to set the cookie, but not so high that the meringue turns brown. When you see it starting to brown, lower the temperature by 25°F.
- Still a little sticky inside? Let her sit outside for a while (at low humidity). Or bake a little longer.
How to store meringue cookies
- Store at room temperature: Seal the meringues tightly in a container and separate the layers with parchment or wax paper. There’s no harm in putting a silica gel pack inside to soak up excess moisture. The meringues should keep for 2 weeks, possibly longer.
- Freeze meringue: In a rigid, airtight container, pack them in layers separated with parchment or wax paper. Store up to a month; thaw on the counter.
Fun variations on these cookies!
- Add 1 teaspoon of extract: Try vanilla, lemon, peppermint or almond.
- Swap the nuts: Pistachios, walnuts or almonds work well. Use toasted nuts for the best flavor.
- Swap nuts: Instead, use chocolate chips, shredded candy canes, coconut flakes, or even shredded cornflakes.
- Color cookies: Add a drop or two of food coloring added in the last minute of beating.
- To make chocolate meringue: At the start of Step 5, sift 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder over the whipped meringues, lifting them together as you add the pecans.
What to do with your leftover egg yolk
- Freeze them: Place the yolks in an airtight container (label how many yolks are inside) and freeze for up to 1 year.
- make ice cream
- Prepare the creme brulee.
- Prepare mayonnaise or hollandaise sauce.
Love meringues? Try these recipes!
- Summer peaches with baked meringue
- Peppermint Meringue Cookies
- Chocolate pavlova with whipped cream and raspberries
- Lime meringue cake
- Rhubarb Meringue Pie
From the editors of Simply Recipes
Pecan Meringue Cookies
Notes on working with egg white. Eggs are easiest to separate when they’re cold, and they fluff best in the oven when they’re at room temperature. So separate the eggs when you take them out of the fridge, then let the egg whites sit for a while (about 30 minutes) to dissipate the cold before beating.
Make sure all bowls, hands, and utensils that the eggs may touch are clean and free of oils.
ingredients
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1 cup (100G) pecansbest lightly toasted for 8 to 10 min at 250°F (120°C)
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3 big protein
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prize Salt
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3/4 cup (150G) sugar
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1 teaspoon Vinegar
method
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Preheat the oven to 150°C
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Break pecans into small pieces:
Place the pecans in a ziplock bag and beat them with a wooden spoon or roll them over with a rolling pin to break them into small pieces. Put aside.
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Beat the egg whites until soft:
Place egg whites in a spotlessly clean stand mixer bowl. Add the salt. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks appear and the egg white bubbles are very small and uniform, about 2 to 3 minutes.
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Slowly add sugar while continuing to beat:
Increase the speed to medium-high and slowly add the sugar, a few tablespoons at a time, to the egg whites. Continue beating the eggs and sugar for a few minutes.
Then pour the vinegar into the bowl. Increase speed to high and beat egg whites until foamy and glossy and forming stiff peaks when whisk is lifted, 4-5 minutes.
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Fold in pecan pieces:
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the pecan pieces.
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Place teaspoonfuls on a baking sheet:
lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
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Bake:
Place cookie sheet in oven at 300°F (150°C), close door and reduce heat to 250°F (120°C). Bake at 250°F (120°C) for 25 minutes, then turn off the oven. Leave them in the oven for 2 to 3 hours or overnight. When done, they’ll be crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside.
If they’re a little marshmallow or chewy on the inside, just let them dry for a few more hours.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 55 | calories |
| 3g | Fat |
| 7g | carbohydrates |
| 1g | protein |
