Vegan Lavender Aquafaba Meringues
Delicate, floral, pillows of sweetness dissolve on your tongue in these fresh lavender flavored vegan aquafaba meringues. Biting into one of these lavender meringues is like crunching into a sweet, floral, lavender perfumed cloud- dreamy and delicious. With their purple swirled beauty, they make an elegant teatime snack, a fanciful dessert, or a darling homemade gift.
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What is Aquafaba?
Aquafaba translates to “bean water”, and is the carbohydrate- and protein-rich water that is made in the cooking process of beans. You know that thick, gelatinous liquid in every can of chickpeas or beans that you immediately pour down the drain? That’s aquafaba. What you’ve been throwing out for years is a magical vegan egg substitute that has similar properties to egg whites in its ability to rise, bind, thicken, and emulsify. Although you can use any bean, chickpeas are the most common as they work well and are neutrally flavored- for similar reasons, cannelloni beans are another great option. You can also make your own aquafaba from chickpeas you re-hydrate yourself, although this tends to be less strong and requires reducing.
Looking for Aquafaba or Chickpea Recipes? Try one of these!
- Homemade Ranch Dressing
- Vegan Lion’s Mane Crab Cakes with Hollandaise Sauce
- The Easiest, Any-Fruit, Baked Dessert (Vegan Clafoutis)
- Spicy Garlic Roasted Chickpeas Snack
Aquafaba Meringues- A few Pointers
This is one of those recipes that involves a bit more technique and science than your average cookie recipe, so I’m going to try and give a little more information to make sure you can master these aquafaba meringues.
Stiff Peaks- You’ll want a Stand Mixer
The key to airy, crunchy, beautifully swirled meringues? Stiff peaks. The key to stiff peaks? A whole ton of beating. A stand mixer is really the best way to get this done- if you’re using a hand mixer, your wrist will get pretty sore. If you’re using an old fashioned egg beater, you’re a braver soul than me. In total, I beat my aquafaba for probably about 15-20 minutes, first on it’s own, and then slowly adding the sugar. If you’ve formed stiff peaks, you should be able to turn the bowl upside down over your head and still remain pristine. It uses egg whites, but here’s a good guide for making sure your lavender meringues are properly beaten.
Aquafaba and Humidity
The natural enemy of the meringue cookie is humidity- after spending two hours in the oven, slowly drying out the moisture, it can all be added back again within minutes in a moist room. I actually was inspired to make these cookies in part because I’m currently in California, where the climate is much dryer than my home in New England. Don’t make aquafaba meringues on a humid day, and once they’re dried and cooled make sure to store them in an air-tight container.
Making Purple Swirls
This is a totally unnecessary, but totally fun element of my aquafaba meringues- a lavender swirl. It’s actually not hard to accomplish- mix red and blue food coloring together, and then paint or drip a line of it down the inside of the piping bag. Add the meringue batter, and pipe small piles. The purple swirl will appear as you pipe, giving a beautiful extra touch to your cookies. Alternatively, the standard white meringues are perfectly elegant if you choose to go purple-free.
Checking for Aquafaba Meringue Done-ness
It can actually be pretty hard to tell when these cookies are done, as they need to be thoroughly dried. Expect them to take about 2 hours to bake, at which point check to see if they’re done. Firstly, very delicately touch the outside of one cookie. It should be hardened, although it will easily crumble under pressure. Next, remove one vegan meringue from the oven by ripping off the corner of the parchment sheet, or delicately removing from the silicone mat. Let sit for a couple minutes, then check. Once cooled, the meringue should be firm, not sticky, and crumble easily.
Making these Vegan Lavender Aquafaba Meringues
I’ve gone into some detail about specific elements of meringue making above, but I also want to highlight the broad strokes of vegan meringue making. It all starts with the aquafaba- whip it well, as that’s really the heart of the meringue recipe. Next, combine the sugar and lavender in a food processor and process it into a smooth, fine, lavender-flavored sugar (this recipe is for lavender fans- if you don’t like the taste as much, you may want to reduce the amount of lavender). Slowly add the sugar into the still-beating aquafaba, until it is all combined and you have stiff peaks. Pipe or spoon into cookie shapes, and bake at a low heat for a couple hours. Once cooked, store in an air-tight container, or you’ll be left with sticky, dissolving cookies. I can’t really repeat that enough- once baked, store in an air-tight container. If they do get a little too sticky, place in your air-tight container and refrigerate for a while to try and dry them again.
Vegan Lavender Aquafaba Meringues
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas or white beans, with the liquid (aquafaba)
- ½ tsp. cream of tartar
- ¾ cup white sugar
- 1 tbsp. food grade lavender flowers (or less, if preferred)
- Food coloring, optional.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 250°F (120°C). Prepare two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper, and set aside.
- Drain the liquid from the chickpeas, preserving the liquid. Measure out ½ cup of the chickpea liquid (aquafaba), and reserve the rest of the liquid and chickpeas for a different use. Add the ½ cup of aquafaba and the cream of tartar to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, and mix for about 5 minutes, until it is becoming stiff. While the aquafaba whips, place your sugar and lavender in a food processor and process until finely ground.
- Add the sugar to the whipping aquafaba, one heaping tablespoon at a time, waiting 1-2 minutes before adding the next tablespoon. After all the sugar is added, your meringue should be maintaining stiff peaks- if not, whip a while longer.
- Pipe or spoon the mixture into 2-inch rounds on the prepared baking sheets- if using food coloring, combine 8 drops blue with 6 drops red for a lavender color. Drip a little down the side of the piping bag before filling to achieve purple swirls.
- Bake in the preheated oven for around 2 hours. At that time, check for doneness by removing one cookie from the oven and letting it cool. If it is hard and crunchy, turn off the oven and let the rest of your cookies cool in the oven for an additional hour. Take all the cookies off the baking sheet, and store in a dry, airtight container.
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OK not sure what I did wrong but everything turned out fine until I baked them. After I baked them I took them out and they were flat as pancakes and light brown.. I did cook them at 250 for two hours.
Hi Laura, I’m so sorry this didn’t work out! From what you’ve described it sounds like the most likely thing is that you’re oven is to hot. Meringues can be a bit temperamental, and home ovens (mine included unfortunately) aren’t as accurate as we might like. I would recommend trying it at a lower temperature, maybe around 200° fahrenheit. You can also dry your meringues in a food dehydrator, if you have one.
Best of luck!