Countdown to Christmas Day 3: Peppermint Meringue Kisses

Happy Dec 3rd! Let's just say 2nd time's a charm with this recipe! I had never made meringue kisses before and my first trial run was a flop. The texture of the meringues was very foamy and when I put the mixture into the piping bag to squeeze out the stars they deflated and didn't retain their nice crisp shape that you see in the picture above. I decided to go ahead and bake them and see what happened, but as I suspected the texture still didn't turn out right after baking. I have a feeling the ratio of egg whites to sugar I was using is what caused the texture problem. I was determined to try again and find a recipe that I would be successful with. After searching through a few recipes online and looking at several different ratios of egg whites to sugar I decided to try again, this time modifying my recipe.


Meringue mixture seems to be the right consistency...the moment of truth will be how they look once they come out of the oven.


Using Wilton star tip 1M to pipe meringue kisses on parchment paper lined cookie sheet.


Meringue kisses going into the oven to bake.


Round 2 of meringue kisses was a success! The texture ended up being perfect, crisp on the outside yet once you put them in your mouth they just melt...delicious!


Peppermint meringue kisses are perfect for a holiday treat for your friends or co-workers because one batch makes a large quantity and with only 3 ingredients they are pretty cheap. I put 6 meringues in a sandwich bag and tied them off with a red snowflake ribbon and added a homemade label that I created using a scalloped punch and markers.

Peppermint Meringue Kisses

3 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
red food coloring

• Put egg whites and sugar into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Heat, whisking constantly, until sugar is dissolved about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Transfer egg-white mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 15 minutes.
• Beat in peppermint extract and food coloring 1 drop at a time, to achieve desired shade. (I wanted a light pink color).
• Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Transfer meringue to pastry bag fitted with Wilton star tip 1M. Pipe 1-inch spiraled mounds with peaked tops onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 1 inch apart.
• Bake until meringues are crisp and can be removed easily from parchment, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Store in layers between pieces of parchment paper in airtight containers up to 1 week.
• Makes 6 dozen.
  

ENJOY!