Day 12 of 12 Days of Christmas Cookies: Meringue Kisses

A couple of summers ago we went on a trip to Italy and spent a few days in Venice. While there we’d pass this pastry shop a few times a day that displayed the most beautiful clouds of meringue in their window. On our last day there I finally bought one and man do I wish I bought one sooner so I could enjoy them longer. Since then I’ve wanted to make them but have been more than intimidated by them. When I decided to make Christmas cookies this season I knew I needed to include meringues. I cannot believe how easy these cookies actually were to make! I had been intimidated by them and put them off to the end, but there really wasn’t any reason for me to be timorous!

When I saw how they came out so beautifully I knew I needed to come up with a special way to display them. All I did was cover a foam topiary form with foil and adhere the meringues with royal icing (I used Wilton’s recipe), and voila—a masterpiece!

Meringue Kisses

Directions:

5 large egg whites

1 ½ C sugar

¼ t cream of tarter

½ t vanilla (or any other flavoring like mint, orange, etc.)

Food coloring of your choice

Directions:

Prepare 2 large baking sheet pans, line it with parchment paper. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degree F.

In an electric mixer beat egg white and cream of tartar for 30 second over high speed. Gradually add in the sugar and vanilla. Beat until meringue holds stiff, glossy peaks (be patients as this may take a while).

Using a small spatula paint a red and green stripes inside the pastry bag fitted with star shapes piping tip. Fill the bag with meringue. Pipe small star shapes onto the baking sheet.

Refill bag as necessary, adding food coloring each time. Bake cookies rotating halfway through until crisp but not brown about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.

Let it cool completely on wire rack before storing it in an air tight container.

Source: Adapted from My Kitchen Snippets