Crispy Walnut Meringue Cookies
I love the crispiness of meringues, but usually find them too sweet. I significantly reduced the sugar in this version and added walnuts, vanilla and lemon zest for extra flavor. The average meringue cookie has around 3 teaspoons of sugar per cookie! I was able to cut mine down to about 1/2 teaspoon!
- Yield: Makes 20 cookies 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 1–1/3 cup walnuts
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (zest from 2 lemons)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Distribute walnuts evenly across a sheet pan. Toast in oven for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.
- Once walnuts are cool, add them to the bowl of a food processor and blend until the mixtures looks like very coarse sand, about 10 seconds.
- Lower oven temperature to 250 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, add the egg whites and with a stand mixer or handheld mixer, beat whites until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and continue to beat until stiff, shiny peaks form.
- With a rubber spatula, fold the vanilla extract, lemon zest and ground walnuts into the beaten egg whites.
- Line a sheet pan with a silcone baking mat or parchment paper. Place 20 spoonfuls of the batter, about 1 tablespoon each, onto the pan.
- Bake in oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
- Allow to fully cool. They will get crunchier as they cool.
- Store in an airtight container.
Keywords: cookie, walnuts, meringue, dairy free, gluten free, vegetarian, low sodium
