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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Hello!
These look great – just a quick question, do you know if they’d work with powdered xylitol..?
I’m gonna try it tomorrow anyways!
X
No, I don’t think they will. Xylitol attracts more moisture and they won’t firm up properly.
Have you ever attempted a French macaron? So similar to meringues, yet so amazingly different. If you haven’t, I’d love for you to put that on your list to try. Pretty please.
Made their using Canderel and it worked great.
Thanks
Make these for the first time today and they are perfect! I increased my vanilla extract to 1 tsp. My husband & I licked the mixing bowl clean, just like kids! Thank you for this yummy treat!
OMG just made them with Sukrin (a sweetener that is also erythlitol based) and they were AMAZING no one could believe they have no sugar!
Is it absolutely imperative to include cream of tartar? I don’t have any!!
Your egg whites won’t beat as stiff but you can try it.
I just made a pie crust using this recipe (pavlova, but in a glass pie dish). Using 4 egg whites, I had some left over so I made some meringue cookies to try. They turned out great – crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. I plan to fill the pie crust with vanilla pudding, then whipped topping, then some fresh strawberries.
By the way, my cookies didn’t have to sit in the oven at all after baking. I let the pie crust sit to make sure it was firm around the edges.
What temperature would it need to be for a gas oven (in the UK)? I tried using the internet to covert it, but it came out at not even gas mark 1 & then the reduced temperature doesn’t exist.
I wondered whether I should go by celcius & then the gas mark would start off at 9 (highest setting) & then reduce to around gas mark 6 (medium heat).
Any advice would be great, thanks
That does not sound right to me. You want the first temp medium-low and the second temp low. Does that help?
250F = 120C and 200F = 95C. So when I look online, looks like you really do want below mark 1 (looks like 1/2 mark, if that’s possible). Then you could simply turn your oven off and let them sit inside until the right crispness.
Great idea for the Valentine day. I am definitely trying these for my Pavlova.
Thank you for posting this. This is the fifth sugar-free meringue recipe I have tried and I was beginning to think it wasn’t possible as previous attempts turned out soft. These give me that crispy sensation I’ve been craving so I’ll definitely be making more.
Thanks for posting this! Quick question, is there an alternative to this recipe where I don’t need to use a fake sweetener, or substitute it with something natural while maintaining the low sugar content? I don’t use anything with ‘tol’ in the title, anything chemical based or artificially flavoured. Stuff along the lines of splenda and the ‘creamer’ stuff that gets put in coffee in the USA, just makes my skin crawl.
No, there’s no other good substitute besides sugar. But if you research erythritol, you’d find it’s also a natural product, found in fruits and fermented foods. It’s not more “processed” than sugar is, really.
These were my first attempts at meringues, and they turned out great! I used erythritol that I powdered in my coffee grinder, and added a bit of powdered stevia extract. I would love to try Swerve but I am a little wary of “natural flavors” since the FDA will let just about anything go under that title. Anyhow, these are so light and fluffy and yummy…I can’t wait to try out some variations! Chocolate, mint, rosewater, maybe even banana, or rum? Thanks!
Oh I also wanted to added I used powdered egg whites, since I always end up wasting eggs when I have to use the yolks and the whites separately.
You should ask them what their natural flavours are, because they are a very transparent company and I am sure they would be happy to elaborate!
Awesome !! I used this recipe to make a pavlova & it turned out beautifully. I used “Natvia” sweetener for baking which we have in Australia (it is a mixture of Erythritol & Stevia). Both my sons & I are on a low carb diet so I topped it with fresh whipped cream & strawberries & blueberries & there were second helpings all around. Thankyou so much for this recipe – I am on a permanent low carb diet due to irritable bowel issues & this is the first time I have had meringue for over 2 years – I am saving this recipe for my collection for sure !!
Glad it worked out so well. I’ve made pavlova with it too…delicious!
Thank you so much for this post!!!! I love making meringues and just recently got put on a gluten, sugar and dairy free diet. I just crumbled when I thought that I would never have a meringues again. I love the idea of peppermint meringues I have made rose mint meringues before sugar full unfortunately so now I am going to try them with this recipie thank you!!!!
Rose mint? Sounds intriguing! I used to get rose icecream from a place that has closed now and miss that flavor. What’s your recipe?
Hi,
I have tried those with Erythritol sugar (Sukrin). They look perfect but taste pretty cold. They have stayed on the Xmas table the whole time as a decoration. Any idea what I have done wrong? I have realized that if I put bigger amount of erythritol into the recipe, it gets this cold like taste to it.
Hi Zuzana, I see you posted this a while ago, but if you are still following I was wondering if you ever soerted out the ‘cold’ issue. I have also just made and get the same cold sensation using 100% erythritol ?
Erythritol is a menthol derivative, that’s where the cooling effect comes in.
Hi lyra,
O my, I have just got your message today in my mailbox. Cant believe this was back in 2013. But yes, I have realized if I use erythritol mixed with stevia (like Swerve) it gets better.
Hope that helps
Zuzana
I just finished baking these with erythritol sugar sold on Amazon (cheaper than the other stuff and much cheaper than Truvia). I added a half tsp of peppermint extract (not oil!) to the recipe and the texture is perfect and they’re deliciously vanilla-minty. I blitzed the sugar in a food processor to powder it and it seems to have worked.