Forget Me Not Cookies
You may know forget me not cookies by another name, forgotten cookies. No matter what you call them, they are easy meringue cookies loaded with chocolate chips and pecans (if that’s your jam). The crisp exterior gives way to a sweet, marshmallowy center!
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Forget About It!
Forget me not cookies get their name from their unique baking method. Crazy enough, you’ll put the cookies into the preheated oven, close the door, turn off the oven and completely forget about your cookies for hours. You can even leave them in there overnight!
How does that work? Well, since they are basically meringue cookies, you’re not baking them so much as you’re dehydrating them. The residual heat of the oven is enough to give you perfectly baked cookies.
French Meringue
My plain meringue cookies are made with a Swiss meringue which has you melting the egg whites and sugar over a double boiler, then whipping to stiff peaks. For these forget me not cookies, we’re gradually adding the sugar to the egg whites as they whip to create a French meringue.
Ultimately, you will whip the meringue to stiff peaks. That’s when the egg whites stick straight up, no flopping, when you take the whisk off and flip it up. However, unlike macarons, the acceptable range of “stiff peaks” is pretty generous. Bare minimum, make sure the meringue isn’t going to spread around when you shape the cookies.
Top Tiips for Meringue
- Wipe your bowl and whisk with a bit of vinegar to remove any residual fat or grease.
- Separate your egg whites one at a time into a small bowl before adding them to your big bowl. This is to prevent any stray yolk from ruining the whole batch!
- Acid (like cream of tartar or lemon juice) or egg white powder can help stabilize your egg whites.
- Whip your eggs at a medium speed for longer to create a more stable meringue and minimize the risk of over whipping.
- Room temperature egg whites will whip up faster, but it’s best to separate the eggs while they’re cold.
- Use the leftover egg yolks to make a loaf of challah!
Grainy Meringue
My meringue ended up awfully grainy. That’s a bit of a bummer, but a) it does not ruin the cookies in this recipe and b) I know exactly what I could do differently to fix this. Let’s discuss.
- I completely forgot, but I intended to blitz my sugar in my food processor to create a super fine sugar. You can also use caster sugar if you have that available. The smaller crystals will dissolve much easier.
- I added my sugar too quickly. After each spoonful, give the sugar some time to incorporate. While you don’t want to wait too long and risk over whipping the meringue, you also don’t want to go spoonful after spoonful without a pause.
- I used too much sugar. Originally, I wrote the recipe to use 10 ounces of sugar. I think that was too much for these four egg whites to handle, so I’ve adjusted the recipe for the future. If you’ve got a bit of sugar left, but your meringue is saying it’s good, listen to the meringue.
Related Reading: All About Meringue
Nuts or No Nuts
If you do a quick search for forget me not cookies, or forgotten cookies (hey, maybe that’s how you ended up here!), you’ll notice that they all feature chocolate chips, but not all of them have nuts. At the end of the day, go with your own personal preference.
Personally, I think the pecans balance all of the sweetness in the rest of the cookies. I chopped them super fine and loved that they added flavor and texture. You could choose a different nut or adjust the quantity too. You do you!
Parchment Paper Thoughts
Like I mentioned at the top of this post, you’re dehydrating the cookies more than you’re baking them. And what helps with this process is using parchment paper. I love, love, love, my silicone mats, but they are a bad option for baking meringue.
Parchment paper allows for more air flow and won’t trap the moisture in the cookies the way silicone does. Silicone mats also insulate the baking sheet too much. We’re not working with a ton of heat, so we need all of it we can get.
Plus, I feel like the air flow design of these USA pans really helps the meringues bake/ dehydrate perfectly.
Pipe or Scoop
Every single recipe I looked at had you scooping the meringue with a spoon onto the baking sheet. I decided to try piping them with my largest piping tip, the Ateco 869. This didn’t work as beautifully as I hoped, but it absolutely worked just fine!
Whether you scoop with a spoon, or pipe the cookies, aim for similar sizes. Mine were not super consistent, but it really didn’t make a huge difference. The larger ones had a more marshmallow center, while the smaller ones were more crisp all the way through. Both are delicious.
Storing Forget Me Not Cookies
Meringue’s arch nemesis is moisture. Place the cookies in an airtight container with sheets of parchment or wax paper between the layers. Do not cram them together or they could break.
As long as they are stored properly, they will actually keep on the counter for up to two weeks. This makes them a super handy cookie to keep on hand or to give as gifts during the holiday season. Spoilage is just not a big concern.
The Baker’s Man
I decided to make forget me not cookies all because of a book I read, The Baker’s Man by Jennifer Moorman. The main character is a baker and all the chapters are named after different bakes. I just had to bake at least one of them!
If you love baking and a good romcom with a dash of magical realism, The Baker’s Man should be on your To Be Read list. Anna, our main gal, accidentally creates the perfect man with a dash of her grandma’s magic sugar. Romance, chaos, and a dash of comedy ensues.
Related Reading: Bakes & Books: Part Two
Enjoy!
Forget me not cookies are sweet morsels featuring a crisp exterior, marshmallowy center, and oodles of mini chocolate chips and chopped pecans. Whip up a batch of these meringue cookies and crack open a good book. Happy baking!
Forget Me Not Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 egg whites room temperature
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 9 oz sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
- 6 oz mini chocolate chips
- 2 oz pecans finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a stand mixer, whip the egg whites on low until they are starting to become frothy. Add the cream of tartar and whisk on low to combine.
- Increase the speed to medium and whisk until you have soft peaks. You should see the whisk beginning to leave tracks in the meringue, but the egg whites will still be soft and weak.
- As the egg whites whip, begin slowly and gradually sprinkling the sugar into the bowl. Allow the sugar to incorporate before adding more sugar.
- After all of the sugar has been added, continue to whip until you have stiff peaks. You can increase the mixer to a medium high speed if you'd like, but be careful not to over whip the meringue.
- Add the vanilla and whip just to combine. Add the chocolate chips and pecans. Gently fold until evenly dispersed.
- With a spoon or a piping bag (I used my largest piping tip), place dollops of the meringue onto the prepared baking sheets. You do not need to worry about leaving much space in between the cookies.
- Place in the oven, close the door, and immediately turn the oven off. Leave the cookies in the oven undisturbed for 5 hours, or even overnight.
- Afterwards, you should be able to peel the cookies right off the parchment paper without any sticking. Store in an air tight container between layers of wax or parchment paper.
Notes
- The number of cookies you'll get from one batch is dependent on the size of the cookies that you pipe or spoon onto the baking sheet.
Colleen
Hi there! I’m Colleen, a novice baker with a passion for learning and improving my bakes… and blunders. On Bakes and Blunders, you can find all sorts of tasty recipes that range in difficulty, but most importantly, I’ll try to explain the reason behind important steps. If you know why a recipe works, you can tweak and adapt it to suit your unique tastes, and you’ll be able to reliably produce some very delicious treats. If you love baking and want to expand and grow your skills, or if you are a casual baker and just need some pointers, my blog is right up your alley! Join me on my baking journey and we’ll learn how to make more impressive recipes together.
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