Suspiros (Latin American Meringue Cookies)

Suspiros Are Melt-in-Your Mouth Meringue Cookies

The Spruce / Cara Cormack

Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 2 hrs
Total: 2 hrs 15 mins
Servings: 25 servings

Once in a while, we make something that calls for lots of egg yolks (such as Brazilian quinin or chocolate cream pie), and we end up with a bunch of extra egg whites. These easy meringue cookies are a great solution to that problem. Crispy and light, they melt in your mouth with a little "sigh" of sweetness (hence their name suspiro, or sigh).

These cookies are flavored with vanilla, but you can add other flavorings (like in peppermint suspiros), or fold in extras like ground nuts or mini chocolate chips. You can also use food coloring to give them pretty pastel colors, like French macaron cookies. This is also an excellent recipe to bake in toy ovens such as the Easy Bake Oven since meringues cook best at low temperatures.

These cookies store well in an airtight container, but they will quickly become chewy and lose their crispness in a humid environment.

Ingredients

  • 5 large egg whites

  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

  • Pinch kosher salt

  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

  • 1 teaspoon food coloring, optional

  • Candy sprinkles, optional

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Suspiros Are Melt-in-Your Mouth Meringue Cookies ingredients

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  2. Place egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a standing mixer. The bowl should be very clean, with no residual oil or fat, which could inhibit the formation of the meringue.

    egg whites and the cream of tartar in the bowl of a standing mixer

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  3. Beat egg whites (using whisk attachment) until egg whites form soft peaks.

    egg whites in a stand mixer

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  4. Gradually add granulated sugar, while still beating egg whites. Continue to beat egg whites until they have increased in volume and are forming stiff peaks.

    egg whites in a stand mixer

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  5. Sift powdered sugar together with salt.

    Sift the powdered sugar together with the salt in a bowl

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  6. Gradually add sifted powdered sugar and salt to egg whites, continuing to beat, until well mixed.

    egg white mixture in a stand mixer

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  7. Gently fold vanilla into meringue.

    vanilla added into the meringue in the stand mixer

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  8. Preheat oven to 200 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

    parchment paper lined baking sheets

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  9. Tint meringue with several drops of food coloring, if desired. Fit a piping bag with a large star tip, and fill bag with meringue.

    meringue in a piping bag

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  10. Pipe meringue into small swirls onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart. Top cookies with a few sprinkles, if desired.

    meringue cookies piped onto a baking sheet

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  11. Place cookies in oven and bake for 60 to 90 minutes, checking after an hour to see if cookies feel dry and crispy. Once cookies feel firm and crisp, turn off oven and let cookies cool while further drying out in oven for at least an hour or two, or overnight.

    Suspiros Are Melt-in-Your Mouth Meringue Cookies on a baking sheet

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

  12. Serve cookies immediately or store them in an airtight container. Cookies will not stay crispy in a humid environment.

    Suspiros Are Melt-in-Your Mouth Meringue Cookies in a container

    The Spruce / Cara Cormack

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
32 Calories
0g Fat
7g Carbs
1g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 25
Amount per serving
Calories 32
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 24mg 1%
Total Carbohydrate 7g 3%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 7g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 1mg 0%
Iron 0mg 0%
Potassium 21mg 0%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)