If you haven’t heard of Meringue Girls then you’ve been seriously living under a rock. They run their own pop-up meringue stores in the UK and are featured in many popular magazines and articles all over the internet. I first saw their work of art on Instagram and oh my gosh did I fall in love with this eye catching yet simple dessert!
Their recipe is so simple to remember, you won’t ever need to refer back to the recipe itself. 1 part egg white to 2 parts super fine sugar. You can alter the portion to how many ever meringue kisses you desire. As a benchmark you will get approximately 50 kisses with 30 gram egg white and 60 grams sugar. That’s a lot of kisses to share around!
These cute little cookies are beautiful on its own as pure white kisses or you can add colour and flavour to make them even more exciting. But remember that the meringue mix itself is very temperamental (just as macaron mixtures are). If you add any liquids to the mixture you will end up making it runny causing the meringue to lose its shape. It is best to fold dry or powdered flavouring to the already mixed meringue.
Flavouring suggestions:
- Spices: Cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg or mixed pie spice blends
- Floral: Lavender flowers or rose petals
- Citrus: Zest of lemon, lime or orange
- Chocolate: Sifted cocoa powder
- Coffee: Instant coffee powder
- Berries: Powdered freeze-dried raspberry or strawberry
- Nuts: Finely crushed nuts (be sure to move quickly as the oils from the nuts can also ruin the peak)
- Coconut: Desiccated coconut in the mix or sprinkle on top
Adding colour:
- Turn a piping bag inside out
- Paint stripes on the bag with food colouring of choice
- Carefully turn the bag back the right way
- Fill up bag with meringue mix
- Pipe!
See below for full recipe and also some handy tips to achieve the perfect peak.
If you stuff up your batch of meringues – don’t stress!! Crush them up and chuck them together to make an eton mess.
- 300 g superfine sugar (1 1/2 cups)
- 150 g egg whites (from about 5 eggs)
- Food coloring (optional)
- Line a deep baking tray with parchment paper
- Pour in all the sugar and bake in oven at 200C for about 5 minutes. It is ready when the edges just begin to melt.
- Meanwhile, pour egg whites into the bowl of your clean and dry stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
- Whisk on low speed allowing bubbles to form.
- Increase mixer to high speed and continue whisking until stiff peaks form. It is ready when you can turn the bowl upside down without the egg whites falling out of the bowl.
- Remove the sugar from the oven and begin whisking eggs again at high speed.
- Add one big spoonful of the hot sugar at a time, ensuring that the whites come back to stiff peaks after each addition.
- Once all the sugar is added, continue to whisk for another 5 to 7 minutes. You should be able to rub the mixture between your fingers and not feel any grit from the sugar. You know it’s ready to use when it forms a smooth shiny peak on the tip of your finger.
- Decrease oven temperature to 100C.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place a dab of meringue on four corners of pan and press paper on top to hold it down flat.
- To stripe kisses with colour, turn piping bag inside out and paint on 4-5 stripes of food coloring. Carefully roll the bag so the painted side is inside and spoon in meringue mixture so it is packed in tightly. Snip off the tip of the piping bag about an inch in diameter and pipe kisses on baking sheet.
- Bake at 100C for 30-40 minutes until the kisses can easily be lifted off the parchment paper with bases in tact.
- Remove from oven and let it cool completely.
- Your equipment must be clean of grease - if necessary wipe a cut lemon around the inside of the mixing bowl
- Weigh ingredients carefully
- Super fine sugar must be used to achieve best result
- Liquid egg whites can be used in place of fresh eggs
- Use egg whites are room temperature
- If you find that your meringues are cracking - do not take it out of the oven straight away. Stick a wooden spoon in the oven door, leaving it ajar
- Keep meringues stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks
