Valentine meringue cookies are a fun way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Make these pretty meringue hearts for someone special. Wrap them up in a pretty box, or tin, and you have an inexpensive gift that you can share with anyone. Here’s a look at the recipe, and tips for how to make the perfect meringue cookies.
Ingredients for Heart Meringue Recipe
One of the things that I love about meringue is that there aren’t many ingredients. It’s essentially just egg whites and granulated sugar. While powdered sugar is ok to use for regular meringue, I don’t recommend using it for these cookies. It will change the texture and dry it out. Likewise, skip adding cocoa powder as that will soak up the moisture and make them dry too.
A quick tip about egg whites. Cold egg whites are easier to separate, but room temperature egg whites will whip-up faster. And for best results, be sure to use a metal, ceramic, or glass bowl instead of a plastic bowl.
Cream of tartar helps give the mixture stability, and vanilla extract is used to add flavor. You can substitute another flavor if you prefer, just remember that extracts are concentrated so it doesn’t take much.
For a lot of cookie recipes, you can get away without using an electric mixer. However, with these Valentine meringue cookies I highly recommend that you use either a stand mixer, or a hand mixer. Because the meringue mixture is whisked on medium-high speed for 10 minutes with a mixer, if you relied on whisking by hand it would take forever. The whisk attachment on a stand mixer is your best friend with this recipe and makes these heart-shaped meringue cookies so easy to make.
Be sure that you don’t get any egg yolk mixed in with the egg whites by mistake. Any egg yolk that accidentally gets into the mixture will prevent it from whisking together properly. And you won’t get the pretty white color needed for these pretty hearts.
The Secret to Valentine Meringue Cookies
The texture for these Valentine hearts is soft and chewy. Traditional meringues are known for their crunchy texture, but these cookies are fluffy and soft. The secret to getting this type of texture, is how you mix the egg whites and white sugar together.
Typically, you would put the mixer on high speed and whisk until stiff peaks. But with this recipe, you don’t even want to reach the soft peaks stage. Instead, whisk until the meringue batter is more like marshmallow, and is just starting to get to a soft peaks stage.
The secret to the pretty design on these Valentine’s meringue hearts is using red food coloring for half of the meringue. To keep the white mixture and red meringue mixtures separate so that you get a nice marble affect, you need to put each color into a separate pastry bag (or Ziploc bag). Then place both of these bags into a third bag. This way when you squeeze the bag, you’ll get an even distribution of the red and white meringue.
You will need either a silicon mat or parchment paper for these cookies. Using a parchment-lined baking sheet ensures that your meringues won’t stick. One key difference with these Valentine meringues is that you want to pull the cookie sheet out of the oven when the cookies have finished baking.
With other meringue recipes like my Snowman Meringue cookies, you leave the cookies in the oven to cool. Turn off the oven, open the oven door, and let the meringues cool before removing from the oven.
The key to the soft texture is not only how you combine the egg whites and sugar, but it also has to do with the technique for baking the cookies. When you leave them in the oven, they get a firmer exterior and a crunchy bite. By removing them from the oven right away, they remain soft and it gives them the chewy texture.
Valentine’s Day Meringue Cookies
Equipment
- Hand Mixer optional
- Stand Mixer optional
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
Ingredients
- 3 Egg whites
- ⅛ tsp. Cream of tartar
- ½ tsp. Vanilla extract
- ¾ Cup Granulated sugar
- Red food dye
- Red, white, pink sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In bowl add the egg whites and cream of tartar.
- Whisk or use a mixer to make the egg whites frothy.
- Once frothy, you will slowly add in the sugar while continuing to mix. Do this either with one teaspoon of sugar at a time or with a slow continuous pour.
- Once all the sugar is mixed-in, add in the vanilla.
- Blend at medium high speed for about 10 minutes until you have a marshmallow-like soft meringue that barely holds a peak.
- Split this mixture in half, dying one half with red food dye.
- Place the two colors into piping bags and cut the tips.
- Place both piping bags in a third empty piping bag to create a blend of the two colors.
- On the prepared parchment baking sheet, pipe out heart cookies and top with sprinkles.
- Place in the oven for 1 hour.
- Let cool after removing from the oven and you will have a firm, but soft to the bite meringue cookie!
Notes
- Crack the eggs one at a time in a separate bowl to ensure that no egg yolk is accidentally added. Egg yolk will ruin the integrity of the meringue.
- This meringue is different from typical meringue cookies, as it has a fluffy, soft, and chewy texture. This texture is achieved through the length of time when beating the egg white and sugar mixture.
Making Different Meringue Cookies
I hope you give these meringue heart cookies a try. While the total time between the prep time and cook time is longer than a typical cookie recipe, I still find these hearts easy to make. I let the stand mixer do the work for me, so the prep time is easy and you can multi-task while it mixes together. The pretty heart shape makes these the perfect cookie to give as a gift for Valentine’s Day. Or, to make for a Valentine’s Day party or special occasion.
The best part about this recipe for Valentine meringue cookies, is that you could certainly change the shape of the cookies and the gel food coloring you use. Maybe a green shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day or fall colors shaped like a leaf for Thanksgiving. Or if you want to stick with the heart shape, go with little pink heart meringues instead of multi-colored. Meringue cookies are like a canvas, and you can color and shape them to your liking. Store them in an airtight container, and these yummy meringue cookies will last for weeks.
Related recipes to try:
Peanut Butter Hearts
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