Part of my problem may have been my sweetener. For the peppermint meringues, I attempted to use powdered xylitol and although they LOOKED fantastic, they never firmed up enough to be removed from the parchment even after hours of baking. You had to scrape them off with a spoon, which my kids actually did quite happily, because they tasted great. My other problem is likely the fact that I never wanted to just make plain meringues, I wanted something fancified (also not a word, but it will suffice for now). I added cocoa powder for chocolate meringues and deflated my entire batch of beaten egg whites. I added a peppermint extract that was made with oil and, again, deflated my egg whites. You get the picture. I sometimes focus so much on coming up with something NEW and DIFFERENT that I don’t just try my hand at the basics.
So. Shannon has done the work for me and I love her dearly for this. I tried them myself this afternoon, following her method almost to the letter, and they turned out fantastic. They are crisp on the outside while being a little moist and chewy on the inside. They do get a little browned on the tips, so I think I need to play around with oven temps and baking times. And unlike Shannon, I didn’t find that I needed to leave them in the oven for hours to crisp up. But these are very minor tweaks. It should be noted here that we both used Swerve for our sweetener and as Swerve contains a few things other than erythritol (oligosaccharides), I can’t guarantee the results with any other kind of sweetener. But this is a really, truly auspicious beginning. And I have a lot of ideas with which to use this recipe. I mean a LOT! So stay tuned, as you are sure to see many renditions of Shannon’s wonderful meringues on my blog.
Shannon’s Sugar-Free Meringues (Low Carb and Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites, room temperature
- 6 tbsp Swerve sweetener, or other powdered erythritol
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Arrange oven racks on second lowest and second highest positions.
- In clean glass or metal bowl, combine egg whites, Swerve, vanilla, cream of tartar and salt. Beat on medium high until medium stiff peaks form and mixture becomes somewhat glossy. Do not beat until stiff.
- Spoon or pipe mixture into 20 to 24 large meringues.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes at 250F. Then reduce oven temperature to 200F and continue to bake for another 18 to 20 minutes, until crisp and tips are just starting to brown.
- Turn off oven and let meringues it inside for 2 hours or longer.
- Remove and carefully peel off parchment.
Notes
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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has anyone tried using powdered monk fruit?
I’m anxious to try these but before I do I’m wondering if allulose would work?
No it won’t. It will make them so soft, they will be like marshmallows!
Thanks for your reply about the allulose. I will use Swerve!
Did you know you can make meringue with the juice found in a can of chick beans?
Will try it with swerve.
Feel free but chickpeas (and aquafaba, the liquid in the cans) is not very low carb so I don’t use it.
Have been making the meringues from your cookbook…..similar recipe. Have made them adding 1 tbs of cinnamon, and lately, 1 tbs of cocoa. Both are great. Next time I’ll try cocoa and cinnamon together.
Came out just as expected. The only hard part was getting them off the baking sheet in one piece. I also made with with cartoned egg whites, but I made sure to add extra cream of tarter (1/4 for 30ml egg whites). And I beat the mixture until it has stiff peaks but not too stiff. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Am I correct that this uses confectioners Swerve and not granulated?
Yes, but this recipe really needs an update.
can you make these with sucralose?
Nope. It’s awful.
I made these to use up some egg whites and WOW! they were PERFECT.. I couldn’t believe how they looked and they just melted on my tongue, it was so light and tasty. I took some to my MIL and she’s been raving about them since May.
I’m making them for her birthday this weekend 🙂
TY Carolyn for another winner!! You really are a life saver on this KETO journey!
My batch burnt after I switched temp from 250 to 200 and I’m not sure why. I carefully followed the instructions and used confectionary Swerve. I don’t think I’ll try this again.
Remember, every oven is different. You need to keep an eye on things like meringues.
How large did you pipe yours? I found that my smaller ones burned a little (still edible though), but that the larger ones turned orange on account of using red food coloring and becoming lightly toasted, which Carolyn does mention. It did not affect the taste, only the texture. May be that keto Meringues need to be quite large to maintain a softer marshmallow texture.
I just made them using Xylitol and they didn’t go crispy, tasted good but too soft to even take of the paper. Can you get Swerve Sweetener Powdered in Woolworth’s in Australia? Will try again with Swerve if I can get it in Supermarket.
I think Natvia is your best option.
A word of warning. The first time I tried this I was out of erythritol and used xylitol instead. I am proud to announce I thus invented the most astonishingly disgusting substance I’ve ever put in my mouth. If I hadn’t made it myself I would have sworn it contained melted gumboots. You know how meringue flattens with a crunchy snap between the roof of your mouth and your tongue, and then just melts away? These collapsed into little bouncy lumps … and then stayed like that. No melting. At all, even under scalding hot water. Imagine rubberized scrambled eggs, slightly sweet. GAAAKKK!
– the recipe as given, however, was lovely.
has anyone tried using powdered monk fruit?
So not sure about these being “Shannon’s” and if she did all the work!
The exact recipe is on the Swerve website, almost word-for-word. Looks like someone on either side copied without giving credit!
https://swervesweet.com/recipes/peppermint-meringues
Um…. no. Because both of these are me. Shannon gave me permission to use her ideas (I did change things a bit) and then I wrote a peppermint version for Swerve.
Is this stiff enough before cooking to spread on top of a pie or cheesecake and form peaks?
Yep, sure is! Check out my lemon meringue pie recipe… https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/best-low-carb-lemon-meringue-pie/