Friday 13 June 2014

Stripey Meringue Kisses

I first saw this recipe on Bakerella (my favourite baking blog ever) which was taken from the Meringue Girls cook book, the blog post featured a really helpful video on making meringues which is worth taking a look at. If you haven't heard of meringue kisses before they are little meringue bites with a crisp shell and a soft chewy centre.

To begin first spread out 300g of caster sugar on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper (or foil if you do not have grease proof paper - like me), the recipe suggests you put it in the oven for around 5 minutes at 200 degrees C (mine took longer than this) but it is ready once the sugar turns brown round the edges.


Whilst the sugar is in the oven, measure 150g egg whites (around 5 eggs) and place in a mixer, begin on a low speed to form bubbles and then increase until stiff peaks begin to form. You'll know when it is at the right consistency when you can tip it upside down without the egg whites falling out (best tried out on somebody's head!). 


Then once the sugar is ready (like the photo above on the left) begin to spoon it into the egg whites whisking at a high speed, once it has all been added, leave it to whisk on full speed for 5-7 minutes. There are two ways to tell when it is ready, one is when you can no longer feel the sugar when you rub the mixture between your fingers and the other is when it forms smooth shiny peaks on the tip of your finger.


Then for the fun part, take a piping bag and place it inside out over a bottle or something similar (I went for a Rose wine bottle of course) to create striped kisses, draw on stripes on the piping bag before turning it back out again and spooning in the mixture. Then snip off the end, make sure you don't snip it too high as the kisses will be too big.


Then begin piping them out onto a tray of grease proof paper by gently squeezing the piping bag once and then pulling it up. This sounds easier than it actually is (hence the odd shapes of some of mine) therefore it takes a while to get the hang of it but don't worry once baked no-one will complain regardless of the shape!


Then pop them in the oven at 100°C for 30-40 minutes (until they can be lifted off the tray in one piece).


You can either store these (for up to two weeks) and eat them as and when you feel like a sugary little lift...


Make a very fancy eton mess with them...


Or if you're feeling generous you can give them to someone has a gift!

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