Four ingredient, gluten free, dairy free, and caffeinated. These coffee meringues may be the perfect dessert!
Passover recipes don’t exactly have the best reputation in town. They are the strumpet of noshing. And worst of all, it seems, is desserts. Jelly things, saccharine macaroons, and dense flourless poundcakes the equivalent of Jewish poundcake. No wonder we are required to drink four glasses of wine to make it palatable! (That’s the reason, right?)
But meringues, meringues are a game changer. Reminiscent of styrofoam (in a good way), airy, crunchy, and totally addicting. 
But of course I’m not one to just make vanilla. No, ma’am. My Bubbe always serves coffee after our Seder, and we sit and chat and laugh and laugh. So why not combine the coffee with the dessert?
It was just crazy enough to work. And work it did. There are a few keys to meringue success. First, clean bowls, clean whisks.
Beat the egg whites on low at first and then gradually up to high speed until thick and soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. 
Add sugar in gradually (1 tablespoon at a time) and beat until batter is shiny and holds very stiff peaks and sugar is dissolved. You can test to see if the sugar is dissolved by taking a bit of the meringue between your fingers. It shouldn’t be very gritty. Meringue should be so stiff that you can hold the bowl upside down and it won’t drip. Fold in vanilla and espresso powder.
You can make them swirly or combine until uniform. Your choice!
Aren’t they adorable! Pipe using a piping back (I put a tip in a plastic bag) or just scoop out. No need to be fancy! Resist the urge to lick the bowl. Or don’t.
And feel free to get as crafty as you like and involve the kiddos if you got ’em! Add chocolate chips, different extracts, sandwich two cookies with Nutella to make a sandwich and play with different shapes! 
Coffee Meringues
Ingredients
- 2 large egg whites at room temperature
- ¾ cup super fine sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer with a whisk attachment (make sure both are very clean and dry), beat egg whites on low at first and then gradually up to high speed until thick and soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Add sugar in gradually (1 tablespoon at a time) and beat until batter is shiny and holds very stiff peaks and sugar is dissolved. You can test to see if the sugar is dissolved by taking a bit of the meringue between your fingers. It shouldn’t be very gritty. Meringue should be so stiff that you can hold the bowl upside down and it won’t drip. Fold in vanilla and espresso powder.
- Drop 1 ½ - inch dollops of mixture onto sheets 1-inch apart or pipe onto sheets using a piping bag or a pastry tip in a zip lock bag.
- Bake for about 1 ½ hours or until crisp, switching pan positions halfway through baking. Turn oven off and let meringues finish cooling in oven for a few hours or overnight. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
I love meringues! Never have piped them before. I always blob them. Yours look way prettier.
Aw thanks, Hilah!
These sounds amazing ~ yum!
🙂
I’m so excited to try these…they are in the oven now. I exchanged Slenda for the sugar due to diet restrictions, and even raw, they smell wonderful with the vanilla and espresso powder. This is quite the process, isn’t it?
Aw yay enjoy!!