Overnight Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies – Gluten-Free!

Get ready to enjoy a delicious meringue cookie that is gluten-free, crunchy yet chewy, perfect for anyone avoiding grains, and baked overnight in your oven. I also love this cookie as a Passover treat. This post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures.

Years ago, my husband’s grandmother, whom we affectionately call “Bubu,” made these delicious chocolate chip meringue cookies. I loved them so much and asked her to share her recipe with me, and today I’m sharing that recipe with you.

These cookies are sweet and chocolatey, with a flaky outside and chewy middle.

And much to my surprise, they require only four ingredients, all of which I keep in my house at all times. They also require very little effort or skill to make.

Making Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

The first step to making these tasty chocolate chip meringue cookies is to gather your ingredients.

You’ll need only four ingredients, including:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1 cup of chocolate chips

Start by beating the egg whites into stiff peaks. While beating them, gradually and slowly add the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. The whole process will take 6-8 minutes but beat longer if needed and until stiff peaks form.

Once the meringue batter is ready, gently fold in the chocolate chips by hand. You can use semi-sweet chocolate chips, or I sometimes use dairy-free mini chocolate chips from Enjoy Life. I find the mini chocolate chips evenly dispersed into the cookies, but both options work and are delicious. Be gentle! You don’t want to deflate the meringue.

I highly recommend using a medium-sized cookie scoop to form even mounds of meringue on your baking sheet. Space them about 1.5″ apart. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, you could use an ice cream scoop or a large spoon. You’ll make about 24 cookies.

For overnight meringue cookies, place the cookies in the 350º preheated oven and then turn off the oven and walk away. They will slowly cook in the hot oven over the next few hours. I call them overnight meringue cookies because I usually make them at night and go to bed. In the morning, the cookies are cooked, cooled, and ready to be eaten.

You can expedite the process by placing the cookies in the oven and baking them for 10 minutes. Then, turn off the oven and allow them to continue baking for 10-30 more minutes, depending on the size of the cookies.

Larger, rounded cookie mounds will take a bit longer to set; smaller, flatter cookies will need less time to set.

Remove them from the oven when the tops are crispy and crackly. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet at room temperature for another hour before handling them.

The cookies need to be handled very gently. The meringue can easily break, and many of the cookies will crack on top. This is normal.

When you bite into meringue cookies, you’ll enjoy a crunchy outside and chewy middle. This is the sign of a perfect meringue cookie. The meringue is also sweet like cotton candy, making it an enjoyable cookie to nosh on.

The Perfect Passover Dessert

While this recipe can (and should) be enjoyed year-round, it’s a recipe I make often for Passover. During Passover, Jews don’t eat leavened bread and grains.

Since this cookie is made from egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chips, it truly is perfect for Passover. However, if you’re strict about Passover, you’ll want to purchase Kosher for Passover chocolate chips to ensure all the ingredients are, well, kosher.

I also think these cookies make for the perfect Easter dessert, especially since the main ingredient is eggs. The egg whites form a delicious crispy meringue that reminds me of stale Peeps.

However and whenever you enjoy these delicious overnight chocolate chip meringue cookies, the bottom line is I hope you do. These sweet and flaky cookies make all springtime celebrations a little sweeter. Enjoy!