As someone who eats a mostly vegan diet, there are some foods I’ve learned to live without. Cheese is an excellent example. Yes, there are plenty of vegan alternatives, ranging from cashew-based “cheese” to daiya to nutritional yeast, among many others. And while I can appreciate these substitutions in their own right, there is simply nothing like melty mozzarella or stinky blue cheese. And that’s fine. I personally feel my best when I’m not eating real cheese.
Meringue, on the other hand, is something I’ve missed dearly. As a topping for pie and in cookie form, I have always loved meringue. But when I became more serious about eliminating animal products from my food choices about a year ago, I sort of just accepted the fact that there wasn’t a good vegan alternative for egg whites. Chia and flax eggs are great, but they’ll only get you so far.
And then last week, after passing by the Ener-G egg replacer so many times before, I finally decided to give it a try. I was so impressed with the texture it allowed me to achieve for the marshmallow topping on my s’mores cupcakes, I knew I had to attempt to make a batch of meringue cookies.
Crispy little cookies that are so light they almost resemble bites of air, yet are somehow so satisfying.
I added a little cocoa powder, some chopped up chocolate chips, and a splash of mint extract, combining my love for mint chocolate chip ice cream and meringues all into one. The flavor possibilities are endless.
I think I can go ahead and cross meringue cookies off my list of non-vegan foods I miss.
- 3 Tbs. Ener-G Egg Replacer
- ½ C. Water
- ¼ C. Granulated Sugar
- ¼ C. Cocoa Powder
- 1 Tsp. Mint Extract
- ½ Tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
- ⅓ C. Chocolate Chips, chopped (mini chocolate chips would be perfect)
- Pre-heat your oven to 300 degrees F.
- Lightly grease a large baking sheet and set aside.
- In a stand mixer, combine the egg replacer and water. Slowly turn the mixer up to the highest setting and whip for 5 minutes.
- Keeping the mixer on high, slowly sprinkle in the sugar and continue to whip for 5 more minutes. The mixture will significantly increase in volume, resembling fluffy egg whites.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add in the cocoa powder.
- Once combined, turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the mint and vanilla extracts and pieces of chocolate chips and using a spatula, gently fold to combine.
- Using a cookie dough scoop or heaping tablespoons, drop the fluffy mixture onto your prepared baking sheet. You do not need to leave a lot of space between each cookie, but they should not be touching.
- Bake for 35 minutes, keeping a close eye on the cookies after about 30 minutes to make sure the edges don’t burn.
- Turn off the oven and allow the cookies to stay there until the oven has cooled. This will help them to dry out and create a perfectly crispy texture.
- Store in a tupperware at room temperature.
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Are there foods that you refrain from eating (for personal, ethical, or other reasons), but that you sometimes miss? Do you try to recreate those foods, or do you just replace them with different, but equally delicious choices?
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
They look so airy a delicate, yum! I love how meringues melt in your mouth. I avoid some foods for health reasons (sugar, most grains), and other for how they make me feel (gluten).
These look so fluffy and delicious! I’m actually not usually a huge meringue person but you make these look reallllly hard to pass up
There aren’t many foods I avoid (well besides fast food and crappy ones) but I’m always game for healthier substitutions when it works!
Everything she said – I agree.
Ah I want cookies and milk…and it’s not even 10am! I’ll admit since going vegetarian I miss anything with a smokey taste. Unfortunately whenever I taste something smokey now I get nervous that it was cooked with meat. Guess I’ll just have to keep to my whiskey!
haha You should give smoked paprika a try. A little goes a long way, and it has that same meaty/smokey flavor. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to regular paprika.
That sounds awesome! Smoked paprika has now made it to the top of my grocery list.
I think it maybe your mission to kill me with your images and goodies over here….omg, these look amazing! Ok, so I suppose there is no way around the sugar and replacing it with stevia?! UGH, I need these…dang sugar free diet
xxoo
haha I think it could be worth a try with the powdered stevia. It could also be a total flop, but you’d only be wasting a few tablespoons of egg replacer.
Just wondering if you ever tried these with the Stevia or any other sugar substitute? I also do not eat sugar. If I give these a try with a sugar substitute, I’ll let you know how they turn out.
I haven’t tried these with a sugar substitute, but please report back if you do!
Why have I never heard of chocolate chip meringues? These guys look super scrumptious!
I used to eat chocolate chip meringues from TJ’s all the time. They were part of the inspiration for this recipe.
Random question; how do you store the egg replacer after you open it?
These look amazing!
Thanks, Stacey! I just keep it in my pantry.
What if I don’t have a stand mixer?!?!?!?!?! <–me being desperate!
haha I think you could use a hand mixer, but it will require that you stand there for a solid 10 minutes. I suppose you could read a book or something.
Bahahahah ten minutes? I’m pretty sure my wrists literally couldn’t handle that. Looks like I just need to enlist a friend who owns a mixer!
Good idea.
I honestly thought vegan meringue was impossible… I think this is my new favorite blog
Up until recently, I thought it was impossible too! Love your blog, by the way. That basic white sandwich bread looks so professional!
I want to make these for a party. About how many cookies does the recipe make? Trying to decide if I need to double it or not. Thanks!
I used a cookie dough scoop and it made about 20 cookies. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
Thank you! Will let you know.
These look delicious! I admire your ambition in not eating animal products! I am not so determined. How many regular egg whites do you think this recipe would need?
Thanks, Samantha! I’m not really sure how many egg whites this recipe would require…maybe enough to replace the 3 Tbs. of replacer + 1/2 C. water? It may not be a 1:1 ratio though. Sorry!
these. look. amazing. Amanda, you are very talented. Seriously, so creative. where did you grow up?
also, would someone tell me what’s up with all of the keyword advertising? is it some sort of new legislation or just google chrome because it’s driving me nuts!
Thanks, Jasper! I grew up in a small town in MA (about an hour outside of Boston), but I was born in NYC and spent the first four years there. I like to think part of NYC stuck with me. haha
What do you mean by the keyword ads? I recently joined BlogHer, and their ads are running on the right side of my blog…maybe that’s it? I also use Google Chrome.
Looks like an awesome recipe. I could eat about 1000 of them I reckon!
It’s not hard to go to town on these – they’re so light!
these do look so airy and light.. i need to make me some soon!
i used to get hit by random cravings once in a while, but now i know i can recreate some of them and some others i dont want anymore.
I know what you mean. It’s interesting how our taste preferences can change over time.
I just made some and they were terrible! I don’t know what I did wrong. I followed the recipe step-by-step. They would not get super fluffy. It was more like sticky marshmallow fluff, but more runny. When I put them on the pan, they completely ran flat like pancake batter.
I did use a hand mixer and I don’t have a standing one. So maybe this isn’t the recipe for someone without a KitchenAid standing mixer, huh?
Any suggestions?
Oh no! Sorry they didn’t turn out well.
I’ve made this recipe a few times, but I always use my super powerful stand mixer, so I’m thinking that might be the issue. The texture should be really fluffy and hold it’s shape (like in the photos). It’s similar to marshmallow fluff, but it should be thick. My only other thought would be that maybe the egg replacer was expired? Either way, I apologize that the cookies weren’t a success.
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