Pillowy Meringue Cookies

These are the cookies that look like clouds and taste like sweet whispers of vanilla. Five ingredients, almost no fat, and a long, gentle bake at 225°F (107°C) that’s really a slow dehydration rather than baking. The egg whites and sugar form a stable foam that crisps from the outside in, leaving a chewy marshmallow center if you eat them warm or fully crisp through if you let them sit overnight.

The two teaspoons of vinegar are doing important work. Acid stabilizes the egg whites and helps prevent weeping, the watery beads that sometimes form on baked meringues. Cream of tartar would do the same job; vinegar is the pantry-shelf equivalent.

Whipping the whites to stiff peaks before adding sugar is the foundation. Without that initial stiffness, the meringue collapses into a sticky puddle on the sheet pan instead of holding its piped shape.

Pro Tips

• Make sure the bowl and beaters are completely free of fat. Even a trace of egg yolk or oil prevents the whites from whipping to full volume.
• Use room-temperature egg whites. Cold whites whip slower and to less volume than ones brought to about 65°F (18°C).
• Add the sugar gradually, a tablespoon at a time, after stiff peaks form. Dumping sugar in all at once deflates the foam and gives a grainy meringue.
• Bake on a humid-free day if possible. Meringues are hygroscopic and pull moisture from the air; on rainy or muggy days they refuse to crisp.
• Turn off the oven and leave the door cracked when the timer goes off. Letting them cool inside the warm oven prevents the sudden temperature drop that causes cracking.

Variations

• Sift 1 to 2 tablespoons of cocoa over the meringue before folding for chocolate meringue cookies.
• Add ½ teaspoon almond extract in place of half the vanilla, and dust the tops with crushed almonds before baking.
• Tint with a drop of food coloring and fold in mini chocolate chips after the sugar is incorporated for festive holiday meringues.