I prefer to think of them as Passover goodies.

I made meringue cookies (but with chocolate chips) a few weeks ago. Very good (and, very sweet). I didn't use the overnight method however. I may have to give it a try. I also used a small tablespoon cookie scoop to shape the cookies, but truth be told, egg whites can be tough to work with, so they weren't the most beautiful things in the world. A pastry chef friend suggested using a pastry bag with a large star tip.

An inexpensive way to make an interesting cookie.

Can I just use my Mini Prep to chop the pecans? What are the benefits to using a wooden spoon on a bag of nuts instead of a Cuisinart? When I try the bag method I usually end up with a hole in the bag and nut pieces everywhere....

Great recipe! I have had something similar but it didn't have nuts. Instead it had mini chocolate chips which made for very sweet cookies. Could this recipe be adjusted to have the chocolate? I didnt' know if you'd need a lower temp or not. Thanks!

I make these cookies with chocolate chips instead of pecans

I have made these many times. Very Good and Easy. But I use 1 tsp of Vanilla!, not Vinegar. Important Item.

I never realized meringue was an Easter tradition - they are also perfectly kosher for Passover so they serve both holidays well.

My grandmother made cookies like this that she called "fogotten cookies." She put them in her gas oven with just the pilot light for heat and left them overnight. Sometimes she would add green food coloring and mint chocolate chips.

What a great post for the day of the first seder! These were always the very last thing my mother made before collapsing in bed after a long day of seder-prep. And they were the very first item I ever cooked as a kid.

Since I refused to eat pecans, we always used 1 cup of mini chips instead of nuts. Or, we would skip the chips alltogether and drop small pieces of candied violet or rose petals on top of the meringues before we baked them. Today, I do a mix of pecans and chips (1/2 cup each) and cook them exactly as described, but starting the oven out at 350 instead of 300. Frankly, I don't even know if it matters but as long as it's not TOO humid out, it always works. And even if they're a wee bit sticky, they're still pretty tasty.

I was wondering, could you still make the recipe if you don't happen to own a mixer of any kind? (would a blender work? :)

We used to make these every christmas, except we used the cream of tartar instead of vinegar. and chocolate chips instead of pecans (i was a picky kid, and hated nuts).

I still make them occasionally for various occasions.

Absolutely delicious.

I just saw an alternative to this Easter recipe, with a chocolate option, at the Boston Globe online site: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2007/04/01/sweet_kiss/

Hi - These cookies do look good!

About beating the egg whites with a blender: I tried using a boat motor (immersion) blender once. It didn't work at all and then when I gave up and used a hand mixer, the egg whites still wouldn't whip up right. I had to add another egg white in order to get it to work with the hand mixer. I'm not sure if I did something wrong--blenders are harder to get oil-free than mixers--or if there was something else inherently wrong about using a blender.

Hey Elf,

Blender won't work. You can use hand mixer (7$ at walmart/CVS/Walgreens). If you can't able to get that, then all you need is strong arms. So, grab a fork and start beating the egg until frothy. :-)

Good luck

Great recipe, Elise!
But just a note about the eggs: they separate really easily when they're cold from the fridge, but beat up beautifully when they're room temperature. And I was taught to use a stainless steel (although preferably a copper) bowl for beating the whites. It's about the acid interaction.

Another variation I had as a child, just make the meringue alone, when ready, slice in halves and place cream in the middle like a sandwich. Oh my, are they good.

Hi Elise!

What sweet little beauties! Your recipe is also naturally gluten-free [safe for those with celiac]. Happy Spring! ~ Karina

Hi Elise, thank you for the recipes & the pictures? I am really eager to try them! Do you know if I can substitute rice wine vinegar for the white vinegar? I don't usually cook with white vinegar so I don't have it on hand.

Also, you mentioned I might use cream of tartar instead. Is 1 tsp cream of tartar = 1 tsp vinegar? Thanks!

We make these cookies every year. They're the kids' favorites. There's a whole scriptural verse reading that goes along with each ingredient to go along with the Easter Season. I prepare the ingredients ahead of time(crush the pecans) because otherwise it would take to long, but the kids symbolically do each part, the salt for sweat and tears shed, the vinegar because they poured it over His wounds, etc..... The overnight method really works, they are sweet and very tasty.

Fabulous! I will never make another chocolate chip cookie (disaster) again - this was too easy and too good for the amount of effort required. (I used choc. chips and toasted pecans - and had to use cream of tartar because of the absence of vinegar from my pantry.)

Hi Elise! My mom made a candy like this when we were kids growing up in Alabama - if I remember right, these were my brother Dan's favorite. The Southern recipe differs a little, and we called it "divinity". I haven't tried it in years, but thought I would post it for those who might want to experiment with another version (or, as a gift for you Southern cooks!).

Here 'tis, by way of the "Cookbook" of the The Women of the Church, First Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, AL:

Divinity Candy

2 2/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup white Karo syrup
1 tbsp vinegar
dash of salt
2 egg whites, well beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Mix sugar, water, Karo, vinegar and salt;; put on stove and cook. When comes to a good boil take 1 cup of this; add to egg whites. Let remainder cook until forms a hard ball when spoonful is dropped in cold water, then add to egg whites. Continnue beating until candy is ready to be dropped. Add vanilla when mixture is cool, also finely chopped nuts if desired. Drop by teaspoon onto wax paper. 4 dozen pieces.

Note: Remember it will not harden in cloudy or rainy weather.

Enjoy!
SAS

My husband loved these. They're a great treat and a real surprise- everyone enjoyed them.
Thankyou so much !

PS-changed the name to The_Athesist's_'Raisin', my husband won't eat anything associated with mythology...

PPS- finally using those eggwhites from all the wonderful batches of ice-cream

Egg whites beat up better by hand than in a mix-master or blender. I think it is because hand-beating brings up all the egg white from the bottom, rather than the circular motion of already beaten egg white that you get with the equipment.

These definitely work using a large star pastry bag attachment - so long as the nuts are small enough. Then when cooled the next day, dip them in melted chocolate, let dry on parchment paper. You could also use food coloring dyes when finishing the beating of the egg whites to make them for any occasion (red, white and blue?!)

This is so funny! I made meringues just this afternoon, and colored them blue, pink, and then purple.

I had no idea they were an easter thing, we grew up making them at christmas, and I was thinking today that they'd dye to be easter colors easily.

Ours is made with 2 eggs white, 2/3 cups sugar, 1/4 tsp cream of tartar, 1/4 tsp vanilla, a pinch of salt, and a cup of chocolate chips (i use mini-chocolate chips... our recipe also suggests mixing pecans in with the chocolate chips).

Today, I didn't have enough chocolate chips, so I just made them plain, but turned the heat on the oven up to 400 (or recipe calls for 350)... that gave them a toasted marshmallow taste.

Growing up we always left them in the oven overnight... but my current oven forces the heat out, so when I put the cookies in the oven I turn it down to 170 (as low as it goes), and leave them like that for 20 minutes or so, and then turn it off until the oven is cool.

The deal about beating the pecans w/a wooden spoon is that we supposed to remember that Jesus was beaten by the soldiers. So it's only significant if you are doing it as part of the Easter Story recipe - otherwise, a chopper makes it go smoother!
I was a little worried about our egg whites in the kitchen aid - but it all whipped up nicely and the kids responded with surprise at how white and stiff they were! Yay - something worked!!
Sigh, I also had to substitute walnuts for the pecans -- I KNOW pecans would taste much better!
Our oven is taped up - and the lesson paused until the morning.
Now, switching ethnic traditions, I am going to make Yakshik, korean sweet rice dessert. Mmmm. And I won't need the oven!

Wishing all blessings of the season, whether Easter or Purim or just Happy Spring.

Elise, these look adorable. In Azerbaijan we call meringues Bize (the spelling must be Bizet), and it's the old time favorite. It's usually plain, with only eggs and sugar inside, and maybe some food coloring, but here in the US I found more variation with all kinds of flavors. Thanks for posting. I am going to try this one.

This look wonderful and super easy! I'll definitely keep them in mind for a simple Passover sweet.

I love the idea of waking up to cookies fresh from the oven!

Elise, Do you know how you would cook them if you do not want to cook them overnight? Maybe 20 - 30 minutes at 250 or something? Any ideas would be great.

Such a coincidence that I made the exact same cookie for Easter myself. The recipe even called for peanuts and I switched to pecans.

However, I did not use vinegar or salt and am very much looking forward to seeing what it does for the merengue. Some sort of chemical reaction that I don't understand, perhaps? Fascinating:)

We make ours with COCONUT! Yummm

Hello. First time here. We have done the Resurrection Cookies two years in a row, since I first found out about them, and my children enjoy it. We also made Resurrection Rolls which were yummy too.

Could someone teach me the whole Easter story that goes with the making of the Meringue cookies? I didn't know there was an Easter story. I made these cookies with pecans and chocolate chips when I was in the 6th grade (1970) and won 2nd place in a cookie contest!

These cookies look yummy and so light. The overnight method seems so easy. Can't wait to try them

Another easy way to shape these beasties (they are my son's very favorite cookie and he gets them every year for his birthday in November), is to spoon the meringue into a plastic ziplock bag, press out as much of the air as you can and then just cut one corner as large or as small as you like and pipe them in circles on the parchment. I've also been known to add a tablespoon or two of really good cocoa powder for chocolate merinques.