16 Heavenly Meringue Desserts

This beloved dessert from chef Enrique Olvera features shatteringly crisp charred cornhusk meringues. They're served with a luscious cream mousse made from fresh corn-infused cream and mascarpone cheese; the result is ethereal and unexpected.

These are among the simplest classic French macarons, made with only sugar, almond flour, egg whites, red food coloring — and a filling of raspberry jam. The jam is the star of the show, so be sure to purchase the finest seedless raspberry jam you can find.

Meringata — Italian for "meringue cake" — is an elegant yet homey frozen dessert of whipped cream sandwiched between meringue rounds. Italian fine food importer and cookbook author Rolando Beramendi serves it with a warm chocolate-espresso sauce.

This extraordinary dessert, made with crisp chocolate-hazelnut meringue and whipped cream, is simple to make. But pastry chef Daniel Jasso has nicknamed it "the beast" because slicing it can be tricky — the meringue tends to crumble. The solution: Freeze the cake, cut it with a serrated knife, and let it return to room temperature before serving.

A touch of cumin gives these crisp meringues a welcome warmth that pairs beautifully with a trio of sweet and juicy summer berries and a dollop of tangy crème fraîche. Aromatic and floral ground cardamom or fresh and herbal ground coriander may be substituted for the cumin, or the spice can be omitted altogether.

In her variation of lemon meringue pie, pastry chef and cookbook author Gale Gand forgoes a traditional crust for quick-baked sheets of sugared phyllo dough, which she layers with housemade lemon curd and a brown sugar meringue. For an easier version, use good quality store-bought phyllo dough and lemon curd.

Most pastry chefs love lemon and orange, but for this recipe Deborah Snyder champions grapefruit. In one cold, creamy dessert, she layers pink grapefruit curd in a crunchy graham cracker crust with caramel cream, caramel sauce, and a delicate topping of fluffy meringue.

"Don't judge the taste of these cookies by the crags and cracks," says Los Angeles-based chef Merrin Mae Gray. (Their Italian name is brutti ma buoni, "ugly but good.") The pecans and potent grappa are unexpectedly elegant, and the crisp outsides and chewy centers make these meringues seriously irresistible.

In 2018, Food & Wine named this recipe one of our 40 best. It starts with a crust made with fresh orange juice, that's filled with tangy lemon-lime curd, then gets dressed up with swirls of sweet meringue that caramelize in the oven.

This dessert from 2000 F&W Best New Chef Andrew Carmellini looks like a pumpkin pie, but the filling is actually made with sweet potato. It sits on a spiced graham cracker-pecan crust and is topped with billowy meringue instead of the typical whipped cream.

The secret to doughnuts at home is in the dough: Retarding the shaped doughnuts allows a more complex, yeasty flavor to develop. Pastry chef Joanne Chang's recipe is filled with marshmallowy meringue; use an intense, robust, high-quality maple syrup to ensure lots of maple flavor.

The meringue topping expands as this stunning cake bakes, so be careful not to spread it all the way to the edges of the cake batter to make removing the cake from the pan easier. Top with whatever berries are in season at your market, or use your favorite sliced stone fruit.

Cookbook author Malika Ameen rolls her cocoa-laced meringue around pillowy whipped cream and crunchy, nutty praline for an utterly delectable, totally elegant roulade. A garnish of blackberries or pomegranate seeds makes this dessert even more eye-catching.

These amazingly delicious bars from cookbook authors and baking duo Cheryl and Griffith Day feature a salty, crunchy graham cracker crust topped with a rich chocolate filling and fluffy marshmallow meringue.

Chef Andrea Reusing makes every part of these lovely individual baked Alaskas from scratch — even the graham crackers for the base. Our recipe calls for store-bought grahams, and if making homemade ice cream isn't your thing, you can sub in a good prepared brand. Use a pastry torch to brown the meringue topping and serve with macerated strawberries.

In this recipe, the aromas of a Bavarian Christmas market — glühwein, toasted almonds, spiced cookies — are infused into the components of a classic pavlova: Sweet cinnamon meringue is topped with tangy quark and crowned with bright citrus and mulled wine caramel.