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Lemon Drop Meringues – light meringues infused with lemon. Lemon juice and zest provide the perfect balance to these sweet, melt-in-your-mouth cookies. Garnished with lemon zest and sparkling sugar to give them a pretty, shimmery look.
Here we are in the beginning of fall, waving a big goodby to summer. Although summer is officially over, Houston is still feeling temperatures in the mid 90’s. So really, it still feels like summer in most parts of Texas.
I really hesitated to share this recipe for Lemon Drop Meringues. Don’t get me wrong. These meringues are fantastic! The sweet yet slightly tart flavor is in perfect balance. The crispy exterior shell gives way to a light melt-in your-mouth texture. In a word, I’d call these Lemon Drop Meringues “heavenly”.
The reason for my hesitation? It’s fall and lemon desserts make me think of summer.
I first made these Lemon Drop Meringues in the middle of my summer. I had just made my Lemon Mango Icebox Pie with the juices of fresh lemons and said, whoa! Meringues with lemon zest and a dash of lemon juice would be totally wonderful – and bam! Lemon Drop Meringues were created.
The recipe calls for egg whites, cream of tartar, sugar, lemon juice and the zest of a lemon. For this batch of Lemon Meringues, I added some lemon zest and white sparkling sugar to the tops as they baked in the oven. Next time, I might use yellow sparkling sugar to give the cookies more color.
I honestly couldn’t wait to share these dreamy, melt-in-your-mouth treats with you, but life happened.
A month passed. We took a family vacation.
Another month passed. My husband’s parents came for a (very) long visit. School started.
I almost didn’t post this recipe at all. I thought I might have missed the “perfect recipes for summer” window, but you know what? I don’t know about you, but I happen to use fresh lemon juice all year round.
I add lemon juice to many, many recipes, vinaigrettes, flavored drinks, and I even add lemon to my water on a daily basis, so why not use the zest of the lemons. Lemons are always in my kitchen and adding some of the zest to a sweet treat is a great idea, in my opinion.
Making meringues is easy. If you’re making a recipe where you only need to use egg yolks, save the egg whites to make these treats.
Disclosure – post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Lemon Drop Meringues
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites , large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (plus more for garnish)
- 1 teaspoon sparkling sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until fluffy.
- Add the sugar very slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time while still beating.
- Add the lemon juice and continue beating until the meringue is shiny and holds stiff peaks.
- Fold in the lemon zest.
- Drop by heaping teaspoons onto cookie sheet and place about 1-inch apart.
- Top with extra lemon zest and sprinkle with sparkling sugar (optional).
- Place baking sheets in the preheated oven and turn the oven off.
- Leave the cookies undisturbed in the oven for at least 2 hours.
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