mmmm Meringues

 

Soft pillowy meringue kisses are not only gorgeous to look at and sumptuous to eat, they are also very easy to make! These are absolutely perfect melt-in-the-mouth little morsels, sandwiched with chocolate ganache. And, if you watch the video carefully, you will also see a neat little way of smuggling in some chocolate chips, win win!
Shall we start with the end product first? This is what these gorgeous kisses look like -

 

Right, shall we?

Ingredients

300 gms caster sugar
6 egg whites (or use equivalent from a carton, not too fussy)
1/4 tsp (pinch) cream of tartar
1tsp good quality vanilla extract
1/4tsp salt (optional)

Method

Meringue kisses
Preheat your oven to 110C. This is a very low temperature, so make sure that you have an oven thermometer to ensure that your oven is not overheating. 
Whisk egg whites with an electric whisk or in a stand mixer until foamy. Add vanilla. Whisk. Add cream of tartar. Whisk. If adding salt, mix it in too. You will see the consistency start to change as soon as you add cream of tartar. Good. Now add the sugar, a little at a time, until the mixture is stiff and glossy. This whole process takes around 5 to 6 minutes. 
Divide the mixture in bowls and add a tiny touch of your choice of food colouring. Choose pastel light colours. In order to get a dark shade, you will need to add rather a lot of colour, which in turn will affect the consistency of your meringue. Err on the side of pastel.
Spoon mixture in a piping bag with a large nozzle of your choice. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. This paper must be parchment - not greaseproof or waxed or any other paper. Stick to parchment paper and your kisses won't stick to the paper. I am nothing if not a purveyor of bad jokes. 
Pipe away! Pipe kisses no large than around 2cm in diameter. These need to be even in size so that they bake evenly. Bake in a preheated oven for 2 hours. They should be crisp and dry to the touch. Cool completely before sandwiching together with ganache.

Ganache
Heat 50ml of double cream over very gentle heat. Remove pan from heat, allow cream to cool slightly. Add 50gms of cooking chocolate chips. Stir and leave for a couple of minutes before stirring in completely until all the chocolate dissolves. If you think it is too liquidy, add more chocolate. If it is too stiff, add a touch more warmed cream. Ganache will reach piping consistency when it cools. If you cannot be bothered making ganache, try sandwiching your meringue kisses with ready made chocolate spread or Nutella. Who am I to tell?
Enjoy!

This is what the kisses looked like, cooling down-


I used a French nozzle for the pink ones and a Big Soft Swirl Nozzle, for the white and blue kisses (see below).



And here are some finished kisses - the ones below were coloured using Bitter Lemon and Lime food colouring.




A little word of warning: Meringue kisses are far too delicate to be made on a humid day. If it is raining bucket loads, you are best off waiting for a non-rainy day to make these.