Meringues kisses are very versatile as cake decorations and they are easy to make and a good way to use up excess egg whites. I made them a few times and the key factors for success are first to whip the egg whites real good and second to bake them at low temperature so they wouldn’t brown too much.

Ingredients

  • 200g caster sugar
  • 100g egg whites
  • colour pastes (optional)
  • small brush (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 100 degrees C.
  2. Place the egg whites and sugar in a heat resistant bowl and beat them over a pot of simmering water until the sugar has melted fully. You can test the readiness by dipping your index finger quickly into the bowl and rubbing your index finger and thumb together to test if the egg whites is grainy. The egg whites should feel warm and not overly hot. Be careful not to cook the egg whites.
  3. Remove the bowl from heat and whisk till stiff peak. The meringue should be shiny and stay in the bowl when placed upside down.
  4. Use the brush and colour paste to draw vertical strokes on the inside of the piping bag should you desire to have some colours on the meringues. You can skip this step and keep the meringues white. To brush on the colours, I turn the piping bag inside out, not totally, but leave the tip hanging, so it it easy to turn the bag right side up. Brush on desired colours with vertically strokes, it doesn’t need to be perfect. Turn the bag over again, so the colours are facing in.
  5. Fill the piping bag with the meringue and pipe rounds or stars as desired.
  6. Bake in preheated oven of 100 degrees C for about 40 minutes till the outside is crisp and the inside is still marshmallow like.
  7. You can keep this in air tight containers for a few weeks or use them as cake decorations. I prefer not to keep them in the fridge because they turn sticky.