Review: Miss Meringue Sugar-Free Meringues by Amy Dungan

Meringue Cookies

Meringue cookies were one of my favorite snacks while riding the low-fat roller coaster in my younger days. They were low in fat, crispy, and one of the few low-fat foods that I thought tasted wonderful. Now that I’m no longer shunning fat, meringues are something I rarely think about. In my mind they were always a low-fat thing. So I was happy when I discovered a company making a sugar-free meringue that low-carbers can enjoy.

Miss Meringue Sugar-Free Meringues taste great and have that light, airy texture you’d expect from a meringue. Sweetened with Isomalt and Splenda, these meringues are great for any sudden snack attacks you may find yourself trying to handle. These come in chocolate and vanilla and contain 8 to 9 carbs with 2-3 grams of fiber, depending on the flavor. This leaves a net carb count of 6, unless you prefer to subtract the 6 grams of sugar alcohols as well, leaving you with a net carb count of zero. Keep in mind the isomalt in these could give you a bit of gastric distress if you overindulge. But honestly, the serving size for these delicious meringues is 18 cookies. Cut that serving size back and you’ll likely not notice the isomalt at all. While experimenting on myself (for the betterment of the low-carb community of course) I ate an entire serving size in one sitting to gauge the effects of the isomalt. I’m thankful to report I had no issues.

I’d obviously love for them to be completely free of sugar alcohols, but all things considered, I’d order these again. They really are a nice snack and, in my personal opinion, are better than eating the full-sugar version. The ingredients are also rather simple, which for me makes this product more appealing.

Nutritional information for the chocolate meringues:

• Serving Size About 13 Cookies (13g)
• Servings Per Container 4
• Calories 40
• Calories from Fat 0
• Total Fat 0g
• Saturated Fat 0g
• Cholesterol 0mg
• Sodium 65mg
• Total Carbohydrates 8g
• Dietary Fiber 2g
• Sugars 0g
• Sugar Alcohols 6g
• Protein 5g

Ingredients: Egg Whites, Isomalt, Dried Egg White, Alkalized Defatted Cocoa Powder, Inulin (Vegetable Fiber), Tartaric Acid, Sucralose (Splenda Brand).

Nutritional information for the vanilla meringues:

• Serving Size About 13 Cookies (13g)
• Servings Per Container 4
• Calories 35
• Calories from Fat 0
• Total Fat 0g
• Saturated Fat 0g
• Cholesterol 0mg
• Sodium 60mg
• Total Carbohydrates 9g
• Dietary Fiber 3g
• Sugars 0g
• Sugar Alcohols 6g
• Protein 4g

Ingredients: Egg Whites, Isomalt, Inulin (Vegetable Fiber), Dried Egg Whites, Natural Flavors, Tartaric Acid, Sucralose (Splenda Brand), Vanilla Extract.

For those that are watching fat, carbs and/or calories, these are certainly a good bargain as well. I would caution you that these seemed just a bit dry to me, so I recommend keeping a drink handy while enjoying them. Despite this small caveat, my family quickly devoured the entire tub, leaving me my one serving to use for this review.

Over all I give this 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. The half star loss is due to sugar alcohols, but would have been a whole star should they have used maltitol instead of isomalt.

The bottom line: I believe any low-carber can enjoy these meringues without guilt, as long as they keep portion sizes in mind. And as always, use these on occasion and not as a regular part of meal planning.

Disclosure: I was provided this product free of charge in order to review it. It in no way affected my opinion of the product.

© 2010 by Amy Dungan. Article and photograph used by kind permission of the author.

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