Two-Ingredient Vegan Meringues (Cheat)

VEGAN MERINGUES! You’ll never believe it.

So traditional meringues are made by whipping egg whites with sugar and a little cream of tartar and salt, and then baking them at a low temperature for a long time, resulting in this crispy, delicate, sweet dollop of goodness. As you’ve probably already guessed, egg whites are ESSENTIAL to a meringue. They make up the entire base, which means that vegans can’t ever eat meringues…right? Wrong! There’s a way to make meringues without egg whites, and you’re never going to believe how.

You know cans of chickpeas? You know how you drain the liquid and then use the chickpeas? Well, sure, drain that liquid…or whip it up and make vegan meringues! Crazy, right? I was so shocked and I knew that I instantly had to try it out, especially since I had a recipe saved for sugar-free chocolate chip chickpea blondies and a can of chickpeas sitting on my shelf.

To be honest, I had plenty of doubts on this. The liquid in the can is pretty much just water with some added salt and whatnot. I tossed the liquid into my beloved Kenwood stand mixer, turned it on full power, and walked away to make chickpea blondies. I came back just six minutes later (yes, I checked the timestamps on my photos), and look at the difference:

Like I said. Crazy.

You might feel like these don’t taste like meringues, but trust me, I’ve made meringues about 4 times with consistent results, and I can guarantee that these taste exactly the same.

What are you waiting for? Go buy a can of chickpeas and try it out for yourself!

Notes: If you want to make this, but need something to do with the chickpeas, make these sugar-free chocolate chip chickpea blondies! (They’re healthy!)

Two-Ingredient Vegan Meringues

Ingredients:

• 1 (400g) can of chickpeas
• 3/4 cup – 1 cup powdered sugar (adjust to taste)
• 50g dark chocolate, melted (optional, for decoration/extra yumminess)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 100 degrees Celsius
2. Open the can of chickpeas and drain the water into a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl
3. Add in the powdered sugar and beat with a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer on the highest setting. It should begin to turn white and puffy at around 6 minutes, but beat for about 12-15 minutes, until it’s beautiful, glossy, and holds stiff peaks
4. Transfer the mixture into a large piping bag (you may need to re-fill the bag a few times) and pipe meringue kisses onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper
5. Bake for 1 – 1.5 hours until the kisses are dry and easily removable from the parchment paper. They should be white
6. (Optional) Dip them in chocolate, or drizzle them in chocolate, and serve to your vegan (or non-vegan) friends! (Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator)