Pumpkin Meringue Cookies

I combined Fall and one of my favorite desserts – meringue into super cute Pumpkin Meringue Cookies. These easy-to-make treats are a perfect way to use up those leftover egg whites you have in the fridge.

updated from 2013

HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN MERINGUE COOKIES

PREPARE MERINGUE

I prepare meringue by whisking sugar, egg whites, and cream of tartar over the pot of simmering water. Heating sugar with egg whites helps dissolve all of the sugar and makes the meringue stronger. I use an acidic ingredient like cream of tartar because it increases egg white foam stability.

However, if you don’t have a cream of tartar, instead, use freshly squeezed lemon juice or white distilled vinegar. Before we go any further, I need to tell you how much I love cream of tartar. It is a powerful ingredient in Invert Sugar Syrup and Thick Caramel Sauce, as it inhibits crystallization.

Flavor meringue with Vanilla Extract, and you can beat in fall flavor using pumpkin pie spice, too.

• Divide stiff meringue and color about ¼ with green gel color and the remaining meringue with orange gel color.
• To pipe meringue I use 2 piping tips: Large Star Piping Tip and Leaf Piping Tip #352.
• Fit a large piping bag with a large star piping tip and fill it with orange meringue. Do the same with a leaf piping tip and a green meringue.

PIPE PUMPKIN MERINGUES

• Line a flat light-colored baking sheet with parchment. Pipe star shapes onto the parchment with orange meringue. It’s okay to pipe them close together, cookies won’t spread during baking.
• After you piped all the orange stars, take green meringue and pipe green leaves onto each pumpkin meringue.

BAKE MERINGUE COOKIES

Bake cookies in the preheated oven at 175F for 3-4 hours. Leave the cookies in the oven, until oven cools. Then remove them at once and store them in an airtight container, with a small dish of rice. Rice helps to keep the moisture under control, keeping meringue cookies crisp.

MERINGUE COOKIES SUCCESS TIPS

• Weeping
  • Causes: overbeating of the meringue or cookies are underbaked.
  • Remedy: add more sugar or add 1 to 2tbsp corn starch to the meringue at the last stage of the mixing. It stabilizes the meringue.
• Cracks
  • Causes: meringue beaten at very high speed. Or meringue was baked at high temperature.
  • Remedy: beat meringue at medium-high speed, lower the baking temperature, and increase baking time.
• Beading
  • Causes: this can happen when sugar in the meringue is not completely dissolved or meringue was baked at high temperature, or it was baked for too long.
  • Remedy: Make sure sugar is dissolved completely. Lower the oven temperature.
• Chewy Texture
  • Causes: high baking temperature, underbaked meringues -not baked for long enough.
  • Remedy: adjust the oven temperature.
• Overbrowning
  • Causes: dark baking sheet, high baking temperature.
  • Remedy: use light-colored baking sheets, lower the temperature, adjust baking time.
• Meringue is not stiff
  • Have you added acidic ingredient? Cream of tartar, lemon juice or white distilled vinegar loosen tight protein chains in the egg whites, allowing you to beat in more air and making the meringue more stable.
  • Beat meringue at low speed at first and then increase speed to medium-high. Don’t beat the meringue at the highest speed setting.
  • It can take 10 minutes with a stand mixer to reach stiff peak. Be patient.
  • Maybe fat has gotten into the egg-white mixture? Wipe the tools with vinegar before before mixing the meringue.

MORE RECIPES WITH EGG WHITES

• Crunchy Egg White Cookies
• Swiss Meringue Buttercream
• Blueberry Mousse
• White Cake Recipe via Sugar Spun Run

This post was originally published on September 7th, 2013. I updated this recipe post with new pictures and written text on September 1st, 2022.