Marvelous Meringues

I remember passing a boulangerie in Paris with glossy meringue kisses of all different  colors. It was such a delight to see, and I would soon experience the delicate sweet taste of a meringue kiss melting in my mouth. There is something so satisfying and youthful about taking a bite of a meringue and letting it dissolve on your tongue!  

After becoming obsessed with The Great British Baking Show, I started following my favorite bakers on Instagram. Instagram “suggested” I follow @meringuegirls . I became mesmerized by their posts of colorful and unique meringues. They have so much fun with color and turning their kisses into fun things, like chicks for Easter! When we started our family bake-off, I decided that meringue kisses would be a must for me!

Meringues frequent the bakes of The Great British Baking Show, so I felt the Mary Berry Challenge was the perfect challenge to try my hand at meringue kisses. With Easter approaching, I had imagined doing something with spring colors spiraled in with the meringues. I learned the technique of painting stripes of food coloring in the piping bag and couldn’t wait to try it out! I remembered seeing a recipe for them in my “Mary Berry Baking Bible”, but unfortunately this was already packed away in storage. I couldn’t find Mary’s recipe online, but Kirsten came to the rescue with a recipe for a chocolate meringue!  It was close enough to where I was able to make it meet my needs. I believe my adaptation is what was in my Mary Berry book.  While I have experience making a basic French meringue from previous challenges ( meringue cake and macarons ), I still get insecure on whether my meringue has reached the right level of stiffness. Luckily, I had my mom with me (I baked there since we are not using our kitchen while the house is on the market!), so she made sure I didn’t under-or-over whip the meringue. I painted two pastry bags: one with yellow stripes and the other with green stripes, before filling them. Filling the bags was the trickiest part as I totally overfilled the second bag leaving me with sticky fingers! Once I scooped the excess meringue out, I was good to go. I piped the kisses using a star tip. They came out with beautiful swirls! The yellow were more vibrant, maybe I used more coloring in that bag? We took the excess meringue and created a giant meringue to look like a nest of sorts. Meringues bake low and slow, so they were finished a little after an hour. Picking up tips from baking shows and blogs, I decided to first let the meringues cool by turning off the oven and opening the oven door a bit. I thought this would reduce the probability of the meringues being shocked by the cool air and cracking. After about 10 minutes I took them out of the oven, and they looked marvelous! My dad was the first to try them, and he looked like he had tasted pure bliss. He said they reminded him of when Omi made them when he was a kid! My mom and I quickly dug in and were absolutely delighted with our finished product! So sweet and melted right in our mouths.  I took some to my meringue loving cousin-in-law who regrettably introduced them to her daughter who kept asking for more! I then brought them to my in-laws, and my sugar-addicted father-in-law gobbled them up having to be reminded that they didn’t all have to be eaten that night! The rest were devoured by coworkers the next day!  These were so easy to make, and they stay fresh for so long. They would be perfect to make for any occasion! Meringue Kisses Ingredients • 4 egg whites at room temperature  • 1 cup of granulated sugar  • 1 teaspoon of good vanilla (Ina trained me well) • Gel food coloring  Recipe • Preheat oven to 250 degrees • Whisk egg whites on high in a standing mixer until frothy • Add in the vanilla and then whisk until soft peaks form • Start to add the sugar a spoonful at a time until the meringue is glossy and forms stiff peaks  • Fit a piping bag with a star tip and paint four stripes of gel food coloring onto the inside of the bag • Gently fill the bag with the meringue and pipe onto baking sheet (These should make about 24 kisses, using about two piping bags) • Places the trays of kisses into the oven and bake for 1-1.5 hours • Meringues should be hard to touch but not browned  • Turn off the oven and open the door to allow the kisses to cool for 10 minutes before taking them out of the oven • Enjoy!  • Note: These can be stored for at least a week in an airtight container