Meringue Cookie – The New Macaron (Low-Sugar)

Meringue cookie is an easy light and delightful cookie to make… and yes, typically meringue-dessert-anything is all about the sugar. But not this one!

Because that doesn’t make my healthy sensibilities happy.

And this one isn’t baked done yet…

For sweetness, I tried subbing in natural monk fruit sugar that looks like granulated sugar, but is a plant-based anti-inflammatory version so much healthier.

But bummer, that didn’t do the trick. It didn’t add to a the nice meringue texture. So then I tried adding honey and other healthy sweet alternatives that didn’t help either.

And I tried aquafaba (you know the chickpea can liquid) instead of egg whites… I’ll never forget how POOF! the dreamy foam evaporated into the oven with no sugar to support. So I ended up with a pan full of nothing! 😀

I tried that a couple times with no better result. You’d think I learned the first time.

But I never gave up!…

Because meringues are lovely for so many healthy baking applications like a Pavlova Pie or Baked Alaska.

…And I think I finally cracked the egg! 😊

With egg whites, and no white or granulated sugar, you can get a nice meringue cookie with a crunch when you use my technique described below.

…That I dare say you can make a very crunchy and delicious meringue cookie that tastes as good as a macaron! But don’t take my word for it, try it yourself!

AND now (sugar less) it’s a healthy meringue because you have healthy protein egg whites (without sugar added).

The only sugar added are the mini chocolate chips that I think go hand-in-hand taste-wise with a meringue cookie. And those can be healthy polyphenol dark chocolate morsels that you add. And if you opt to not use chocolate chips, then add a little honey or monk fruit sugar (not for texture, but for sweetness), or pair with berries is nice.

But you decide what you like as preferences, as we’re all as different as each meringue cookie. To celebrate differences, I even added a marshmallow on one and vanilla extract on another to test how these flavor change additions change the meringue cookie.

They didn’t change the structure of the cookie. That’s a good thing. So add away!

And now that we have the tastes down, how is the texture improved? In a meringue, that’s just as important (if not as important) as the final taste.

And it comes down to the way the cookie crumbles… sorry, I couldn’t resist.

…That’s in the baking technique.

If you want a satisfying light cookie that has a matching light crunch that makes a good meringue cookie, then baking once, and then re-baking (like a biscotti) will give you this nice elevated texture.

If you bake once, it will be nice to eat warm out of the oven. But once it cools, meringues deflate and turn into edible taffy styrofoam. You probably know what I’m talking about.

But when you re-bake in the magical oven they become a light and airy toasty cookie crunch texture. And the warm chocolate chips melt into your mouth. Enjoy them warm!