Marens-Kornflexkökur - Icelandic Chocolate Cornflake Cookies are usually made around Christmas time in Iceland. A batch requires only 5 ingredients and each tray only needs 20 minutes of baking time for a chewy nostalgic bake best gifted to loved ones.
Table of Contents
Unlike more traditional cookies, these are meringues with soft cornflakes in the center which makes them incredibly chewy and addictive. Whilst these Icelandic Meringues are usually reserved for the holiday season, these are so easy to make that you might just want to make them any time of year.
Ingredients and substitutions for Icelandic Chocolate Cornflake Cookies
- Egg whites: The meringue is the foundation of these cookies, room temperature, is essential here.
- Sugar: That sugar doesn't just sweeten the meringue, but helps stabilise it's shape when whipped and baked. A baking sugar such as superfine or caster sugar is nice and fine so it also dissolves into our meringue perfectly without adding additional flavor. White sugar is a great replacement here, though the larger grain takes slightly longer to dissolve during the whipping process.
- Vanilla extract: This flavors the meringue and compliments the two star ingredients so a full flavored extract is best here and not imitation.
- Chocolate: Large dark chocolate chunks helps balance the sweet meringue, though you can use milk, if you prefer.
- Cornflakes: Cornflakes add a great texture in these soft meringue cookies, though they do soften during baking and is the traditional ingredient. You could play with other cereals here, if you prefer.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Icelandic Chocolate Cornflake Cookies:
Step 1: Beat the egg whites: Beat with a little of the sugar at a time until stiff.
Step 2: Fold through: The vanilla extract, chocolate and cornflakes are folded through your stiff meringue.
Step 3: Scoop and bake: Scoop tablespoon amounts onto your baking tray and bake until golden.
Step 4: Cool: Remove and allow to cool.
Step 5: Serve: Serve at least 2 meringue cookies at a time because these are addictive!
FAQ's for the best Icelandic Chocolate Cornflake Cookies
Yes! Room temperature egg whites absorb air more quickly to develop a nice and stable foam - though to really stabilize that foam we’ll need an acidic element (think: lemon juice or cream of tartar).
A chewy meringue cookie is the result of a shorter baking time. When you bake whipped egg whites at a low temperature for a long time you end up with crispy or dried exterior and, depending on baking time, chewy interior. When it comes to these meringue cookies, they do not bake long enough to fully dry out so the result is rather chewy, particularly with the cornflakes becoming a slightly chewy or soft in texture when coated in the meringue.
The best result in a stable but volumized meringue is to whip it at a low, but medium speed of around 3 (depending on your beaters), this will result in introducing enough air to expand the egg whites without over whipping when you begin to introduce your sugar.
Yes you can! Over whipping egg whites can result in your meringue collapsing or weeping beads of sugar once baked. The best way to avoid over beating is to ensure you beat at a steady speed and allow at least 20-30 seconds of beating time for the sugar to dissolve between adding more and try not to beat for longer than 15 minutes (this is around the break point, I’ve noticed). Unfortunately, you cannot repair over whipped meringue. But you can turn it into a baked Alaska!
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Icelandic Chocolate Cornflake Cookies (Marens-Kornflexkökur)
Ingredients
- 100 grams / 4 medium egg whites room temperature
- 170 grams / ¾ cup superfine/caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 130 grams / 4.5 ounces dark chocolate roughly chopped
- 71 grams / 3 cups cornflakes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 150°C/300F and line a baking tray.
- Place the egg whites in a bowl and beat while slowly adding the sugar until stiff peaks form, approximately 12 minutes.
- Add the vanilla extract, chocolate and cornflakes and carefully fold through until well combined.
- Place tablespoon amounts onto the baking tray and bake for 20 minutes or until slightly golden and crisp.
- Remove and allow to cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
- Serve, trying to eat only one.
Video
Notes
- Sugar: That sugar doesn't just sweeten the meringue, but helps stabilise it's shape when whipped and baked. A baking sugar such as superfine or caster sugar is nice and fine so it also dissolves perfectly without adding additional flavor. White sugar is a great replacement here, though the larger grain takes slightly longer to dissolve during the whipping process.
- Chocolate: Dark chocolate chunks helps balance the sweet meringue, though you can use milk, if you prefer.
- Cornflakes: Cornflakes add a great texture in these soft meringue cookies, though they do soften during baking so if you don't love the texture of soft cereal, you could omit or play with other cereals here, if you prefer.
- Ice Cream Scoop: The scoop used here creates large cookies with a diameter of 6 centimeters / 2.36 inches.
- The reason why your egg whites need to be room temperature: Room temperature egg whites absorb air more quickly to develop a nice and stable foam.
- Why these cookies are chewy: When it comes to these meringue cookies, they do not bake long enough to fully dry out, so the result is rather chewy. The cornflakes become slightly chewy or soft in texture when coated in the meringue.
- Avoid overheating your egg whites: The best way to avoid over beating is to ensure you beat at a steady speed and allow at least 20-30 seconds of beating time for the sugar to dissolve between adding more and try not to beat for longer than 15 minutes (this is around the break point, I’ve noticed).
Nutrition
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Made it and loved it?
If you have made this recipe, it would mean so much to leave a review below to help more people find this.
Emily
I found this recipe a few years back when my husband was GF. We still enjoy them now even though he is no longer gluten free. These are SO good!
Sylvie Taylor
So great to hear you and your husband enjoy these. Thank you so much for the review Emily!
Reece
Wanted to make a GF friend some cookies and found your recipe. Using GF cornflakes made following this recipe easy...and the best bit was how much my friend loved them! Thanks,
Sylvie Taylor
Hi Reece, thanks so much for your comments and can only imagine how much the gift of homemade cookies made for your friend. Thanks,
Athena
Had to try these as they included cereal which is a weakness in any baked goods and they are so chewy and perfect that I'm not planning on sharing them!
Sylvie Taylor
Your strategy is the same as mine Athena! Thanks so much for your review
Rose
Made a batch of these for loved ones over the holidays and only had one leftover and had to make another batch with leftover egg whites because I couldn't stop thinking about how chewy and delicious they are. Thanks,
Sylvie Taylor
Great to hear you loved these as much as we do Rose!
Kristi Edwards
Question - the instructions say to place a teaspoon amount on the baking tray, but the notes mention an ice cream scoop. Those would each bake for different times, I would expect. Can you tell me if you based it off the ice cream scoop size or the teaspoon? Thanks!
Sylvie Taylor
Hi Kristi,
Thanks for pointing out this error and I apologize for the confusion caused. The recipe should state tablespoon amount which bakes for the same time and results in the same chewy texture as the ice cream scoop. Thanks again and happy baking!
Ici
I followed the recipe as written and measured with a scale. I was nervous that I only had medium peaks even though I was careful separating the whites and whipped for about 20min. They turned out fantastic. They may get stickier but as of now the outside is dry, light, and crunchy yet melt in the mouth. Everyone loves them!
Sylvie Taylor
So glad to hear they turned out exactly as they should! Thank you so much for leaving a comment and hopefully the cookies don't disappear too quickly 😉
Marie
How many cookies does the standard recipe make?
Sylvie Taylor
Hi Marie,
You'll get 24 medium cookies for this recipe.
Amy
Delicious and very addicting!!
Susan
I made these for Christmas and they are very sticky.. not a dry meringue at all. Is it supposed to be dry or soft? I live in Washington state and it is raining today so that could have effected the outcome?
Sylvie Taylor
Hi Susan,
This is the usual outcome for these cookies as they bake at a higher temperature for a shorter time so their chewy texture is signature.
Anonymous
I left them in the oven overnight and they are perfect. 🙂
Sylvie Taylor
So glad to hear you love them!!
Anonymous
Love this recipe!
Carla
Can I freeze these?
Sylvie Taylor
Hi Carla, due to the meringues soft texture, I don't think they would freeze well.
Jane
I’m going to give it a try as for other meringues otherwise I’ll have diabetes in no time ?? they look so lovely
ilima
Is the bake time 20 minutes or 1 hour ? The recipe says 20 minutes but above in the description says 1 hour
Sylvie Taylor
Hi Ilima, I calculated the 1 hour on 3 batches, apologies, I should have noted this below
Jane
Glad you asked as I was just about to take out of the oven and saw the discrepancy ?
Marubi
These were amazing! So easy and really tasty. Thanks for the recipe!
Sylvie Taylor
Hearing this makes my day!! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Kelly
I thought these looked interesting and different and decided to make them for a cookie exchange. I feel like my measured corn flakes looked like more than what I saw in your video, so I probably should have weighed them. I saw another recipe online for same cookie that used a lot less corn flakes, but opted for this one as I thought the crunch would be nicer, but I don’t think I like the texture of the corn flakes in the cookies/biscuits it was a bit cardboard like, so I think I will try these again with rice krispies. I understand then they won’t be cornflake cookies, but I think the rice krispie texture will match the meringue texture better.
Sylvie Taylor
Sorry, should have noted this is a feature of their texture when baked. I've never tried it with rice kripies, but would love to hear how they turn out.
Trish
Hello….I’m making these today!! They look amazing….can you tell me? Do these last a few days or do they need to be eaten quickly? Thanks for this amazing recipe….I’m so excited!!!
Sylvie Taylor
Hi Trish,
They do last a few days and are best kept in a dry container and should be great. Because of the baking time, they can be a little sticky to the touch, but are super tasty. Let me know how you enjoy them