Double Lemon Meringue Cookies
Fun to eat and fun to make, these 22-calorie luscious Double Lemon Meringue Cookies literally melt on your tongue – you’ll love them!
Delicious Double Lemon Meringue Cookies taste like lemon pie, but this recipe is SO easy to make and won’t derail your nutrition goals! These sweet and tangy treats feature fluffy egg whites and loads of lemony flavor for a crisp, airy, satisfyingly sweet cookie!
F-Bomb Cookies!
The best Lemon Meringue cookies only take a FEW ingredients. They’re super FLUFFY. They’re also called FORGOTTEN cookies. They’re awesome with all kinds of FILLINGS and FLAVORS. If you make a mistake, they’re very FORGIVING. But mostly, they’re FUN, a little FANCY, and a lot FABULOUS!
Plus, you’ll be FASCINATED that only two egg whites and a little sugar will result in twenty-five FESTIVE cookies! These are going to be your new FAVORITE!
Other Recipes to Cut the Calories!
- Low-Carb Cheesecake Bites are the perfect way to treat yourself without derailing your diet!
- Skinny Tiramisu Smoothie is a creamy, guilt-free way to satisfy your sweet tooth!
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients: Simple egg whites are the foundation for “forgotten” meringue cookies! This lemon meringue cookie recipe is called “double” because we use lemon zest AND lemon extract in addition to a little vanilla extract.
Dry Ingredients: Granulated sugar gives these fluffy cookies the right amount of sweetness to balance the tart lemon flavor! A pinch of salt and some cream of tartar help these cookies bake up perfectly light and airy with a bit of crunch.
How to Make Lemon Meringue Cookies
STEP ONE: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside. Next, add two egg whites to the stand mixer bowl and beat on medium until the whites become foamy. (You can also use a hand mixer and a regular mixing bowl.)
STEP TWO: Add the salt and cream of tartar to the egg whites and beat on high. Then, slowly sprinkle in the sugar a little, beating continuously until the eggs become shiny and have stiff peaks.
STEP THREE: Carefully fold the lemon zest and lemon & vanilla flavoring with a rubber spatula. You want to fold and not stir so you don’t lose all the air you just beat into the egg whites.
STEP FOUR: Fill a piping bag with a star tip and the meringue mixture. Pipe 1 to 1 ½-inch meringues onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving space between the cookies.
STEP FIVE: Place in the oven and bake for 2 hours. Yes, that’s 200 degrees F for two full hours. Low and slow. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool before enjoying!
Tips for Success
- Be extra careful not to get yolks into the egg whites, or they will not whip up properly.
- If you want to give these cookies a yellow color, you can add a few drops of yellow food coloring when adding in the extracts.
- Follow the baking instructions to a tee – these cookies can be finicky, but cooking low and long is the key to success!
- Lemon meringues are my favorite flavor, but these will work with chocolate, orange, peppermint, vanilla, and even lime!
What’s the Best Way to Store Meringue Cookies?
Meringue cookies are notorious for stealing moisture from the air (which makes them soggy), so it’s uber-important to keep these nibbles stored completely airtight! They will last on the counter for about a week (depending on the humidity), or you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
Why Are My Meringue Cookies Sticky?
As easy as this meringue cookie recipe is, these cookies can still be finicky sometimes. The culprit is almost always moisture! So, if your meringue cookies are sticky or gummy, it’s likely either 1) The weather is too humid, 2) They weren’t stored airtight, or 3) They didn’t properly dry out.
In each of these cases, try returning the cookies to a 200-degree oven for just 5 minutes, then turn the oven off and leave the cookies inside until the oven and the cookies have completely cooled. This should do the trick!
Other Luscious Lemon Recipes!
- Lemon Cream Cheese Danish
- Lemon Trifle
- Frosted Lemon Cookies
- Lemon Pudding Pie
- Lemon Macadamia Scones
- No Bake Lemon Ladyfinger Cheesecake
*This post originally posted on 05/17/2014.
Double Lemon Meringue Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Pour the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer. (You can also use mixing bowls and a hand mixer for this step.) Beat on medium speed until foamy. Add the salt and cream of tartar and beat on high speed.
- As the eggs thicken, slowly sprinkle in the sugar, just a bit at a time. Beat the eggs on high until they become shiny and stiff peaks form. When you lift the whisk, the upside-down peak will hold its shape and not droop.
- Carefully fold in the lemon zest, vanilla extract, and lemon extract with a rubber spatula.
- Place a star tip (or your preferred tip shape) in a piping bag. Fill the piping bag with the meringue mixture. Pipe 1 to 1 ½-inch meringues onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving room in between each cookie.
- Bake for 2 hours. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets.
This sounds like a great recipe! I can’t wait wait to make them and put my own little twists to them!!
Would love to hear what kind of twists! Thank you Charlotte.
Not sure if this will be answered since it’s so long after posting but could you use lemon juice instead of lemon extract?
Hi Cortney! Using Lemon juice would be okay, but it would have to be the same amount as the lemon extract to prevent the meringue base from getting too wet. The lemon juice doesn’t have quite the same intensity though.
I love this recipe. I make them a little larger and top them with macerated berries, delicious!
Hi. So its my first time experimenting with meringue and its for a college assignment. (I’m an art student)
I have to make a bird rest on a cage so I decided, the cage would be perfect in caramel, and meringue would be perfect to rest on top of it as its light.
If I pipe out the basic shape of the bird on the sheet , will it hold its shape or at least stay somewhat similar to what I piped when its done?
Also. is 200 degrees Farrenheit or Centigrade.
Meringues generally hold their shape. They expand slightly, so I wouldn’t do anything too detailed. All our recipes are in Farrenheit.
Aubrey, I bet I know why they didn’t turn out the first time…it must be a very low humidity day to make these cookies. I call mine meringue cookies and I never make them in the summer. Love your site! Keep up the good work!!!!
You can also make these over night…. while your beating your egg whites to stiff pecks preheat your oven to 350* let your oven get good and hot until you have them on your sheets, place the sheets in the oven and turn it off… DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR UNTIL THE NEXT MORNING !! We call them forgotten cookies, and make all kinds of flavors !! Never tried lemon before but its a favorate flavor so thanks !!
Trish can you tell me a few other flavors and how much to use Tia.
Trish — That overnight oven-off baking techinque is exactly how a New Zealand lady told me how to make Pavlova some 35 years ago. Now that I have lots of lemons, I’m looking forward to using it for these delicacies.