Meringue Kisses

These super simple meringues aren’t only quick and easy, they can also be used in decorating a cake or finishing cupcakes. What’s not to love?

If you like meringue but don’t want a lot or shop bought – this is the recipe for you! These meringue kisses only require 2 ingredients, yes you read right, 2 ingredients. They are eggs whites and sugar (any sort of white sugar, like granulated or caster will work really well), all you have to do is put some time into making them and ta-da they’re ready.

If you have horror stories of making meringue in the past or have heard others horror stories, don’t be put off making meringue. There are a few thing’s that you can do in advance to prevent any mistakes from occurring (not ruling out mistakes 100% but lowering the chance significantly). They are as follows:

• Keep all your equipment and tools spotless – any trace amount of anything like fat or similar can have a knock on effect on how well the egg whites whip up. Keep everything as clean as possible – feel free to wipe the whisk and bowl down with some vinegar on kitchen paper.
• Have the ingredients weighed out before you start – this is single handedly one of the best tips when it comes to baking in general and works even better when you’re working with exact measurements like this recipe.
• Prepare your baking tray.
• Whisk away – When it comes to whisking meringue, yes it’s possible to over whisk it but under or over whisking is an issue. So remember it will start frothy and then get thicker and thicker then start to look shiny and glossy and will easily hold its shape when piped or turned upside down in the bowl (which is often a way people test if they’ve got the meringue consistency correct).
• This one is optional but is ideal if you live somewhere cold or your sugar is cold. You can warm your sugar before adding it to the egg whites, by adding it warmed it incorporates better – this was something I learnt while on a baking course at college. Simple line a baking tray with some baking parchment, then sprinkle the sugar all over the tray and place in a medium heated oven for a few minutes just until its warm, you don’t want to take it any further than this. Be careful not to caramelise or burn the sugar – if you do, chuck it away and restart.
• The quantities of the ingredients are important. Remember the ratio 2:1 – 2 parts sugar to 1 part egg white.

Start by preparing by weighing up all your ingredients, preheating your oven to 100˚c/210˚f and lining a baking tray with baking parchment.

Making the meringue is really simple, all you do is get your mixing bowl (and mixer) and eggs whites. Into your mixing, place the egg whites, the beat them on a medium-high speed until they have become frothy in consistency. The ‘frothiness’ occurs as aeration occurs, this may take a few minutes but is a necessary step in making the meringue base.

Once the mixture has become frothy, you can then turn up the speed to high until the mixture has reached stiff peaks (this is where it holds it’s shape). It’s at this point you could over-mix the mixture, so try to prevent that from happening by keeping an eye on it. Once it’s achieved stiff peaks, you can then start adding the sugar a little at a time. Adding a little at a time helps the sugar to incorporate quicker, so take your time when adding the sugar.

Once the sugar has started to be added and is incorporated, you will notice a change in the consistency, this is normal and will happen. It will become thicker and much glossier than it has been up until this point – it will hold it’s shape very well and glossy to the look once fully done.

Once you’ve got the meringue mixture done, you can then transfer it into a piping bag (I fitted mine with a 1cm plain piping tip, but feel free to leave it without one if you’d like), then start to pipe them out onto your lined baking tray. Pipe the kisses from around an inch away from the parchment paper and then you can place them in your preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or a little longer if wanted. If like me you wanted to add some edible glitter lustre onto the meringue, gently tap on a small amount from a brush, you cold also use sprinkles or something similar.

To be honest with you, they don’t look all that different once they are fully baked. This kisses are ideal as last minute decoration or snack to nibble on.

Ingredients:

130g Egg white.

260g Granulated white sugar.

 

Bake your meringue kisses at 100˚c/212˚f for 35-40 minutes, once fully baked, they will pull away from the baking parchment easily.