Have you heard about the magic of aquafaba?
The mystical blend of proteins and starches that make up the reserved liquid from cooking the chickpea legume shares several qualities with the incredible egg. Most importantly: its ability to whip up into meringue.
And so is born the most perfect version of a vegan meringue cookie.
Don’t let its origins scare you – this sweet treat tastes nothing like beans. In fact, once whipped, you would never know that you’re not actually baking with eggs.
To make this tasty alternative, you’ll first need to acquire some aquafaba. You can do this by purchasing a can of cooked chickpeas (I recommend searching for a low-salt variety) or by making it yourself.
The process is no different from working with egg-whites – whip the liquid with a touch of cream of tartar, slowly add your sugar, and bake slowly at a low temperature.
Just like its non-vegan counterpart, the smallest hint of fat will hinder aeration, so make sure your bowl is completely clean and avoid using plastic if you can.
Think that meringue is the only substitute you can make with this magic? Guess again! Try our eggless, completely vegan homemade mayonnaise recipe that also calls upon aquafaba’s powers.
The Recipe
- 1/4 cup aquafaba
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 300°F. With either a stand or hand mixer, whisk together aquafaba, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla on medium speed.
- When the mixture reaches a light foam, increase to high speed and gradually add the sugar.
- Whip until the mixture is glossy and firm peaks are formed. When you lift the whisk out of the mixture, it should hold its shape.
- Gently fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
- Spoon or pipe the mixture onto baking sheets lined with parchment, or silicone mats. Bake for 40 minutes.
Cooking by the Numbers…
Step One – You Must Whip It
Start by preheating your oven to 300°F. In the base of a clean bowl, use a stand mixer to whisk together the aquafaba, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla on medium speed.
Make sure your bowl is completely clean – any hint of fat will hinder the liquid from whipping.
Step Two – Gimme Some Sugar
Once the liquid begins to foam, turn the speed up to high and slowly add in your sugar.
You want to be sure to add the sweetener just a little bit at a time so that it has a chance to dissolve – otherwise you’ll end up with grainy cookies.
Step Three – Just Keep Whipping
Let the batter whip at high speed until it becomes glossy and forms firm peaks. When you stop the mixer and lift out the whisk, the peaks should hold their shape.
Step Four – Mmmm, Chocolate
Gently fold in your chocolate chips. While full-size chocolate chips could work just fine, I prefer the miniature ones for a touch of chocolate in every bite.
Be careful to do this gently, so you don’t deflate all of the air you so carefully incorporated.
Step Five – Bake It Off
To form your cookies, you can either spoon or scoop them onto a tray, or you can transfer your batter into a piping bag.
When using aquafaba, smaller cookies tend to perform better. Try to keep them about one ounce in volume each, or the size of a half dollar.
I prefer to bake on a silicone baking mat so that the cookies can easily be peeled off once they’re cool. Parchment will work as well.
Bake for 40 minutes. They will turn slightly brown and crispy.
Let the vegan meringues cool completely before eating. Stored in an airtight container, they will keep for up to a week.
Are you ready to give this bean-based alternative ingredient a go? You’ll be amazed at its wonderful qualities!
If you need ideas for how to use your leftover chickpeas, we’ve got lots of great recipes for you to try, like our oven-roasted chickpeas, or this delicious salad.
Get to know the garbanzo bean even more, by reading our article all about the cute chickpea!
Let us know in the comments how these cookies worked out for you!
And if you love sweet treats like we do, be sure to check out some of our best vegan cookie recipes:
- Caramel-Stuffed Double Chocolate
- Peanut Butter
- Fig Newtons for Grown Ups
- Spelt Walnut Dark Chocolate Chip
Photos by Kendall Vanderslice, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details.
About Kendall Vanderslice
Kendall’s love of food has taken her around the world. From baking muffins on a ship in West Africa and milking cows with Tanzanian Maasai, to hunting down the finest apfelstrudel in Austria, she continually seeks to understand the global impact of food. Kendall holds a BA in Anthropology from Wheaton College and an MLA in Gastronomy from Boston University, and has worked in the pastry departments of many of Boston’s top kitchens. Based in Somerville, Massachusetts, Kendall helps to run a small community supported bread bakery and writes about the intersection of food, faith, and culture on her personal blog, A Vanderslice of the Sweet Life.
This is very interesting. Who knew this was possible? I know someone who would adore these delicate little treats. I might just have to make some for her. Well, at the very least, I can share the recipe with her. I don’t want the temptation of eating these! They look delicious, but I don’t need the sugar.
I should pass this along right now. Thanks!
It’s nice to know that there is an egg alternative in case eggs are not readily available. I’m not the world’s greatest baker but sometimes my problem is simply the fact that an ingredient is missing, so I lose interest in baking something tasty. It’s easier to just go and buy baked goods, even though they really aren’t as healthy as home-made. I am fascinated by how some ingredients can actually mimic other ones, both in texture and in taste. I’ve seen people make utterly believable apple pies using cucumbers rather than apples, so I know that even the ‘ridiculous’ is possible sometimes. Thanks for a neat little recipe!
Is there any chance you could ask for the cucumber psudeo Apple pie recipe and post it here?
I’m dying to try it just to see if I could make it work:-)
I have heard about aquafaba before on this blog and I still think that it’s a great (and natural!) choice for egg whites, not only when it comes to vegan folks, but it would also be an option for people who are trying to avoid eggs in general.
This recipe looks amazing, I love meringues, and I haven’t tried them before with chocolate on them, it looks like pure heaven.
Thank you so much for sharing!
I have never heard that you could make such meringue cookies without eggs.
During Christmas time my mom would bake similar cookies with this foam and always use egg white for it.
I would really like to try this out and see how it tastes like.
The taste is surprisingly very similar to that of egg whites! There is no beany flavor to it at all. I was very nervous when I first tasted it, but I was surprised to find it so mellow.
WOW!! This is pretty amazing. I love chickpeas, but it’s my first time to hear that it can be used in a recipe like this. While I love eggs, I still think that this makes a pretty good alternative. I’m just amazed that one can make cookies without the use of eggs! The pictures just make me want to gobble all of them in one sitting. I think this will make good company to the Vietnamese Iced Milk Coffee I saw earlier.
Mine just turned into one big puddle 🙁
Please help. What sort of amount is 59 5/34 aquafaba
Or 118 5/17ml sugar
Thanks
Hi Marged! The ingredient conversions that are automatically part of our recipe cards don’t always work- sorry about that! This recipe calls for 2 fl oz aquafaba (about 59 ml) and about 113 g of sugar. Hope this helps!
Is there a sugar free recipe for eggless meringue?
Thank you.
Sherry
Mine turned to blobs!