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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I made these as instructed and turned out amazing!! I do have an issue with Swerve along with most alternative sweeteners, give me intense headaches. Is there a natural sweetener that will not give such terrible side effects and still work with this recipe? Thanks!!
I made these yesterday and turned out amazing! Finally a treat with no carbs and satisfies my sweet tooth without the guilt. Confectioner Swerve worked perfectly. Thank you for an amazing recipe.
Has anyone tried with pecans and coco nibs?
What can you use in Australia instead of swerve?
I hear Natvia is good.
Can I use liquid stevia and if not possibly powdered stevia? I used a vegi glycerine/stevia mixture so I would love to use it with this recipe as I cannot use the sweeter you recommnend. thank you!
It will not work with this.
Finally tried these this evening because I have wanted to make meringues to fill with your wonderful lemon curd for ages. They turned out PERFECTLY. And I have never succeeded at making a meringue in my life – including with real sugar. I think the tad of fructooligosaccharide in the Swerve helps them to set up, btw. In any case, they taste divine and look beautiful, and the combo with the lemon curd is super-fabulous. And they were easy! Will be serving to company soon… Another winner…
Yay!
I just made these and they turned out amazing!! My first batch I used stevia and they turned out horrible. So my second batch I used swerve granulated and I think this is the beginning of an addiction. I cannot wait to try with different extracts! I did vanilla/coffee extract in my second batch and they taste so good and crunchy. I used 2 eggs and only 2tbsp of swerve and they taste very sweet so many next batch I’ll use a little less. Cooked for 30 mins and I let them sit for a few hours and now they are crunchy and perfect! Great recipe!!
Yes, you need a sweetener with bulk for meringues. So glad they worked out!
Found your recipe yesterday, tried it today, and we are in business! Can’t wait to re-introduce pavlovas back into the household after a years long carb-ban. Thank you for testing and sharing.
These were easy to bake up following your instrustions! They do have the “cold” feeling but nice texture!
I’ve whipped these for quite some time and they just froth and stay a liquid. We made meringues in class and didn’t get a Starbucks drink!
Egg whites don’t whip sometimes for certain reasons. If you got any egg yolk in there, they won’t whip. If you got any liquid in there, they won’t whip. If they were too cold, they won’t whip. So it may have been for one of those reasons.
Please help me. I tried the recipe and honestly it looks like dried prunes… i dont know what i am doing wrong. Had the oven at 180 digrees celcius and then 120. its not chrispy AT ALL… looks terrible…. please help.
What sweetener did you use?
You might have beaten the eggs too long. I had the same problem making KETO meringues for the longest time. Finally beat then until just “glossy” and still a little soft, and they came out perfectly. I was shocked! All this time I was blaming the sweetener on the structural problems!
Just seen this! Hope you’ve already realised this, but if not, those temperatures need to be in Fahrenheit, so using Celsius the temperatures would be 65c, then lowered to 45C
I love your website. Thank you so much for all your hard work! Today I made your eggnog recipe (yum) and have egg whites left over.
I’ve made merinque cookies before and found a great way to fancy them up. After putting the meringue on
the baking sheet, I spread it a bit and make a depression in the center of each big cookie (1/4c or so) with the back of a spoon. Once baked I serve them with a spoonful of fresh sliced strawberries, or blueberries cooked down to a thick ‘jam’ in the center.. Next time chocolate ganache, maybe?
It’s very elegant looking.
Delicious!
I just made these and they are delicious! I had a few failures with other recipes before, but these came out perfectly! I didn’t leave them in the oven when it was off for more than 15 minutes, and once they cooled, they were perfectly crispy. I used powdered eyrithritol. This is a keeper for sure. Thank you!! I hope to post on my blog and will certainly link back – I’ve made your lemon meringue pie and posted it with link back to your blog. I love your recipes!!
Carolyn: the trick to using add-ins when attempting to modify a meringue recipes is to add gelatin – either flavored or unflavored – depending on your preference. The gelatin helps the meringue keep it’s shape and not fall flat. I don’t use or buy any commercially available gelatins any more because they are all sweetened with aspartame (UGH!); I did, however, discover a gelatin I can buy directly from a company that is sweetened with splenda / sucralose and this works for me as I will and do use and eat sucralose. The name of the company is Gage Foods, and they offer a line of sugar-free gelatins called “Golden Choice”:
http://www.gagefoods.com/Products.aspx?hierarchyKey=61
Now the Gage Foods Golden Choice Sugar Free gelatin does contain food coloring which remains a controversial ingredient so it will be up to you to decide if this is something you want to try or not. I like to use flavored gelatins because it makes changing the flavor of the meringues so darn easy!!
when i should add gelatin? And how to use gelatin for make meringue?
I add the gelatin after I’ve whipped the egg-whites, salt and cream of tartar into meringue. I usually add the confectioner’s swerve and gelatin at the same time. I usually use 5 grams of flavored gelatin. Be aware that not all of the grains will dissolve and that is alright. Depending on what the gelatin you are using is flavored with you may have to adjust this amount to taste.
Thank you so much.
Just wanted to say I did it by the book on the first round, my results were great except that I didn’t like the taste of Swerve and they were way too sweet. I had never used swerve before so decided to try it with this recipe.
Round 2, I used 3 tbsp of Ideal (xylitol). I followed the baking instructions and ended up with perfect pie merengues, I may have over whipped them, So I baked them again for 20 minutes at 200 and they are amazing!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Carolyn,
I’m so excited to have found this recipe. I finally got my order of confectioner’s Swerve via Amazon, and I think this will be the first recipe I try. Meringue cookies are my absolute favorite – growing up, my mom would make them for special occasions and I could never get enough of them!
Question for you on your second step “Arrange oven racks on second lowest and second highest positions.” Why is this? Are we supposed to be putting one of the baking trays on the higher rack and one on the lower rack? Do we have to switch them halfway through? Would appreciate your response before I try these out.
Switch them if you need to, but doing this really just allows space for both.
Thanks Carolyn! I tried it and they turned out exactly as promised! However they were too sweet for me, so I will try reducing the amt of swerve I use the next time.
One more question for you – I like my meringues more on the crisp side – would baking at 250 for the entire 40 mins help me achieve this? Or will that just burn them?