Why did my meringues get chewy? What to do about them and how to store meringues.
Updated: Nov 22, 2022
Meringues are the delicate darlings of the cookie world; they are tricky to bake but they are just so pretty and darn delicious that its easy forgive their finicky mannerisms.
Small changes during the making or storage of meringues can make them chewy due to the ambient humidity on the day that we bake. We follow strict protocols that control moisture and temperature during our production process so our meringues are always crisp when they exit our ovens. We taste test each batch for perfect crispness; even a bit of chew and back they go into the oven for another long rest before they can be packaged.
We even package our meringues with those tiny desiccant packs that suck up ambient moisture but because our meringues are made the same way you make yours in your home kitchen I.e. not starch slurry and no stabilizers, over time they may pick up moisture from their surroundings regardless of our best efforts. Other times your meringues will remain so crisp in their packaging you will swear they were baked yesterday. We blind taste tested our pumpkin spice meringues from our 2018 pop up shop against freshly baked ones in the fall of 2020 and we could not detect a perceptible difference in the crispness.
So what to do when you open up a bag or carafe and your meringue is chewy. You have two options; your meringue is now the texture of a light taffy so enjoy your meringue taffy! We have had customers tell us they love the juices that flow out of our meringues when they get chewy. But if like me, you love the crispness of meringues follow these easy instructions:
Preheat your oven to 200 F
Do not use the convection function. If your fan is on, you will have flying meringues!
Place meringues in oven for 10 or a maximum 15 minutes
Cool completely.
Once your meringues have cooled, decant them into an airtight plastic jar.
You will want to do this anyway, as soon as you open a bag or container of our meringues. Meringues should not be stored in glass jars or containers. Meringues should not be refrigerated or frozen despite all the advice out there; that is a cardinal sin and will RUIN your meringues. Please enjoy and in the comments do let us know your thoughts on crispy vs chewy meringues. I'm always on Team Crispy.
Enjoy!