Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

Try this recipe the next time you open a can of chickpeas! Deliciously crunchy, light, and airy meringue cookies can be made using aquafaba, which is the water that surrounds chickpeas in their commercially prepared can.

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

It’s been said -repeatedly- this past month by various cooking sites, blogs, and news outlets – canned chickpeas are having a moment. It’s the shelf-stable food of choice for many during these days of sheltering at home, because they are loaded with nutrients, protein, and they make an excellent replacement for meat in lots of dishes.

I always keep canned chickpeas in my pantry, but I’ve been draining away a useful ingredient every time I made my favorite chickpea dishes! Chickpeas leach starch and protein into the water that surrounds them in their cans, which makes the liquid whippable to voluminous proportions!

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

Begin by draining the chickpeas into a sieve over a bowl or glass measure. You should have about 6 oz. of aquafaba from one 15.5oz (439g) can. This is just a smidge more than 3/4 cup.

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

Use an electric hand mixer or a standing mixer to whip the bean water, along with some cream of tartar and powdered sugar. It’s miraculous how billowy this stuff gets! I researched a few recipes that used granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar, but I found the powdered sugar gave the most fluffy end result.

(Side note: If you’re looking for a cheap, powerful hand mixer, this one is ridiculously strong. Low speed is like high speed. I don’t know how long it will last, but for the past month it has replaced my 5 speed KitchenAid hand mixer for its swift work. Be sure to read all the reviews! They are mixed.)

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

You can tint the meringue by folding in gel food color. Try to do this quickly, because I found that as the meringue stands it begins to lose volume. I re-whipped some of the mixture that began looking deflated, and it puffed right back up!

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

I went a little crazy with varying the shapes and colors of the cookies, but I really enjoyed the process. If you don’t have piping tips, you could simply drop the meringues from a spoon on parchment, or use a zip-top bag with the corner snipped to pipe some meringue kiss shapes.

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

Sprinkles make me happy! 

Sprinkle tiny nonpareils over the meringues before baking, if desired. Most any sprinkle will survive well in the oven because they bake at a very low temperature.

I piped a few meringue nests to hold all of the little colorful meringues, which made things feel a little more springy.

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

I had some passionfruit flavoring on hand (from this set) which made these cookies so delicious! A few meringues were dipped in chocolate, or drizzled. I highly recommend doing this.

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

Aquafaba meringues are even lighter than those made with real egg whites. Chickpea water has less protein in it than egg whites (2.4g for the water versus about 3.6g each white) which could account for its cotton candy-like texture (they practically melt in your mouth!). I also think using the powdered sugar helped keep them super airy.

I encourage you to try making a batch next time you’re planning to use chickpeas (zero waste feels good!). But plan ahead, because like standard egg meringues, these cookies need to bake at a low temperature for a couple of hours.

Chickpea Water or Aquafaba Meringue Cookies

Heather Baird
Try this recipe the next time you open a can of chickpeas! Deliciously crunchy, light, and airy meringue cookies can be made using aquafaba, which is the water that surrounds chickpeas in their commercially prepared can.
5 from 3 votes
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 6 dozen

Equipment

  • Decorator piping tips and piping bags

Ingredients
  

  • 1 can 15.5 oz/439g chickpeas
  • 1 teaspoon clear extract do not use oil-based candy flavoring
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 cup 140g powdered sugar
  • Optional:
  • Gel food coloring
  • Sprinkles nonpareils
  • Melted chocolate

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 200°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Drain the chickpea water into a cup or bowl. Reserve chickpeas for another use.
  • Pour the chickpea water into the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until frothy. Add the clear extract and increase the speed to high. With this mixer running, add the cream of tartar. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time (3-4 additions) while the mixer runs. When the mixture turns opaque and fluffy, turn the mixer off and dip your mixer beater(s) into the meringue. If it holds a peak that stands on its own, it’s ready for baking. If not, continue to whip until this consistency is achieved.
  • Divide and tint the meringue as desired. Pipe or spoon onto parchment-lined sheets. Add sprinkles if desired. Bake meringues for two hours, rotating the pans on the oven racks mid-bake. Turn off the oven and let the meringues cool completely inside the oven. (You can also remove and cool on the stove top, but the cookies are more prone to crack). Peel the meringues from the paper and dip in melted chocolate or drizzle.
  • Store meringues in an air-tight container for 3-4 days.

Notes

Oil-based flavorings will deflate aquafaba meringue. Make sure you use alcohol or water-based extracts. You could also add the seeds of one vanilla bean for flavor.
Deflated meringue can be re-whipped. Pipe or spoon the meringues on the baking sheets soon after it is whipped to avoid them losing shape and becoming flat.
Keyword chickpea water, easy christmas cookies, gel food color, gluten free, vegan
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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Hannah
Hannah
3 years ago

These beautiful colors and perfectly piped shapes are giving me life right now. Thank you for staying as vibrant and inspiring as always.

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
3 years ago
Reply to  Hannah

??

Roger Kocher
Roger Kocher
3 years ago

Could you flavor the batter? I assume these do not have much flavor.

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
3 years ago
Reply to  Roger Kocher

Yes, absolutely! Without any extract or flavoring they are mostly just sweet. Vanilla extract or citrus/fruity extracts are especially nice.

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

Hi,

Is powdered sugar the same as icing sugar?
R

Akhil M
Akhil M
3 years ago

The recipe looks great!! I plan to try it this weekend. I'm sharing this to my colleagues. 🙂

Collette
Collette
3 years ago

How do you think this would work as a pavlova?

Mark
Mark
1 year ago

I think a little transatlantic confusion may have occurred on my part. I guess these should have been cooked at 200°F not 200°C or have I done something else completely wrong? (They smelt so good with a dab of vanilla extract before they went in the oven too. 😭)

Linda
Linda
9 months ago

5 stars
Made these today❤️ I added vanilla extract.Perfection!