MERINGUE KISSES

Posted on: August 15, 2014 by Judith, Posted in: Recipes

Aren’t they adorable? And very in vogue too. Perfectly piped, deliciously soft little mouthfuls of sugar delight.

Ever since my husband bought me Peggy Porschen’s book ‘Boutique Baking’ I’ve been dying to make these. It’s not just Peggy ‘s Cake Parlour where you can have a kiss or two with your cappuccino, the ‘Meringue Girls’, Alex Hoffler and Stacey O’Gorman, are taking the sweet world by storm serving their very fashionable meringues to celebrity clients across London, as well as selling them to customers of Selfridges and Harvey Nicols at 70p a bite. So I’m bang on trend.

Let’s be honest, they look fantastic – perfectly piped in beautiful pastel shades – they just want to jump in your mouth. But it’s more than just appearance, it’s the sweet slightly crispy outside encasing a soft mallowey melting centre. You can be as adventurous as you like with flavour – and even dip them in chocolate for a final flourish.

The possibilities are endless ….. they add a lovely touch to a table for any occasion, they look beautiful displayed in a chic glass jar on your kitchen counter, or you can parcel them in little cellophane bags and give them for gifts. Pastel blue or pink for a baby shower; matching shades for wedding favours; or bright vibrant colours for a birthday party.

My meringues were all vanilla piped in three shades – soft pink, mint green and sunshine yellow. I use edible colour paste rather than liquid food colouring as it’s easier to control and blend the colour with just the tip of a cocktail stick.

And they’re so easy to make – you could try yourself at home.

Here’s the recipe to make around 50 kisses, but if you pipe smaller rosettes you will get more kisses:

3 large egg whites

pinch of salt

100g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract (or your chosen flavour extract)

100g sifted icing sugar

Food colour

They only need a very low baking heat so preheat your oven to 80ºc/gas mark ¼ and line your baking sheets with greaseproof paper;
Whisk your egg whites with the salt until stiff and slowly sprinkle in the caster sugar. Stop mixing as the meringue becomes stiffer and glossy and take care not to over-mix;
Add the flavour extract and fold in icing sugar;
Carefully separate the mix into 3 parts and fold in your chosen colour to each part;
Use your piping bag with a star tip to create little rosettes on the paper
Bake for 2-3 hours until fully dried out

If you store them in an air tight container they will keep fresh for a few months, but to be honest they’re unlikely to last than long!

I served these kisses to group of children last Sunday morning and they disappeared in a puff of sugar in no time.

Thank you Peggy Porschen for inspiring me every day, and for letting me borrow your recipe.

So, go on – have a go, or message me and I’ll make some for you!

Judith xx

If you’re a Londoner you can visit Peggy Porschen’s Parlour at 116 Ebury Street, Belgravia, London SW1W 9QQ or have a peek at her glorious website www.peggyporschen.com . You can find out more about the Meringue Girls at www.meringuegirls.co.uk

The photographs of this blog all belong to ‘Judith Bond Cakes’ and were taken with Nikon D50, Nikon DX AF-5 Nikkor 18-55mm Lens