Can you make leche merengada without dairy milk?

Can you make leche merengada without dairy milk?

Probably, with caveats. The traditional recipe we checked uses dairy milk as the base and did not describe a plant-milk version, so any dairy-free attempt is an experiment. Leche merengada (“meringue milk”) is a cold Spanish drink or dessert of milk flavored with cinnamon and lemon and lightened with egg white. One recipe page says it appears in Juan de la Mata’s 1747 cookbook El Arte de repostería; we could not confirm this independently.

The classic recipe

One published version uses these amounts for about four small glasses:

• 750 ml milk
• 60 g sugar for the milk plus 50 g for the meringue
• zest of one lemon and one cinnamon stick
• 2 egg whites
• ground cinnamon to finish

1. Heat the milk with the cinnamon, zest and 60 g sugar to a boil, then cool and chill about 2 hours.
2. Strain out the cinnamon and zest.
3. Beat the egg whites stiff with the remaining sugar.
4. Fold the meringue gently into the cold milk.
5. Freeze in a covered container, beating once an hour for two hours so large ice crystals do not form.
6. Serve in glasses with cinnamon on top.

What to change for dairy-free

• The milk: try a creamy, unsweetened plant milk such as oat or coconut drink. Thinner milks may give a more icy result. Reduce the sugar slightly if your milk is sweetened.
• The egg whites: the meringue is made from eggs, so the drink is not vegan. For a fully vegan version you would need a different foam, such as whipped aquafaba, which we have not verified here.
• Heating: plant milks may react differently to heat, so keep it gentle and stir.

Tips and cautions

• Raw or very lightly cooked egg white carries a food safety risk for young children, older adults and pregnant women; use pasteurized egg whites if in doubt.
• Expect a different taste and texture from the dairy original.