Meringue Kisses Recipe - Complete Guide

Protein Storage: In an airtight container wrapped in plastic wrap - can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 7 days, in the freezer for up to 6 months

I recommend reading the entire recipe and tips before starting work :)
 

Equipment:

• Bowl and pot suitable for double boiler (bain-marie) - meaning a bowl that can be placed stably on the pot so that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water in the pot
• Whisk
• Kitchen scale - important to be precise with quantities
• Food thermometer
• Stand mixer with balloon whisk attachment 

Ingredients:

• 320g egg whites (6-7 large eggs)
• 640g sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp powdered sugar - optional

Standard non-branded kisses are about 2cm in diameter and 3.5cm high. This recipe makes about 300 standard kisses - 3 oven trays.

Before starting preparation - prepare all piping bags with tips.
 

Preparation Method:

Fill a pot with a little water (up to 2-3cm high) and turn on medium heat.

Pour the egg whites into the bowl and add a pinch of salt - mix lightly with a whisk.

Add the sugar to the bowl and mix until the egg whites and sugar are completely combined.

Once the sugar and egg whites become a uniform mixture in the bowl, start the double boiler process - place the bowl over the pot when the water is boiling, so the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water (bain-marie).

With the bowl placed on the pot, mix with a whisk until most of the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes liquid.

The double boiler process is complete when the mixture reaches 67-72°C (152-162°F). (Process time varies according to bowl type (glass/stainless steel), bottom thickness, and flame height. Therefore, it's important to use a thermometer)

After the mixture reaches the required temperature range, lift the bowl from the pot and wipe the bottom of the bowl with a towel.

Transfer the mixture to the mixer bowl and whip at high speed until you get a stable meringue with "stiff peaks."

You can add 1 tsp powdered sugar 30 seconds before finishing whipping - powdered sugar helps dry the meringue in the oven.

How to tell if meringue is stable? Lift some meringue with a spatula, turn it over - if the tip of the meringue on the spatula remains mostly upright - the meringue is stable. And vice versa.

I work with a "Dabo" mixer model 5750, which is a powerful mixer, and whip at speed 9 for 4 minutes.

What affects meringue texture is whipping time. Whipping speed is always high, regardless of which mixer you have, but whipping duration varies according to mixer power - the weaker the mixer power, the longer the whipping time. Usually the time will extend by 2-3 minutes. If the mixer is very weak, the time can extend by even 10 minutes.

For making larger quantities: 450g egg whites, 900g sugar, I whip at speed 9 for 5.5 minutes.

When making meringue from a small amount of egg whites and sugar, the meringue might come out "stringy" like chewing gum and very soft. Therefore, I recommend making according to the quantities that appear in this recipe.

After Whipping:

Immediately start coloring (if coloring) and filling the piping bags you prepared in advance. Don't leave the meringue in the mixer bowl - its texture will be ruined.

After filling the bags, immediately start piping. Pipe the kisses onto parchment paper - no need to maintain spacing - the kisses stay exactly the size you piped.

If you get bubbly, spongy-looking meringue - you whipped too long. Over-whipped meringue should be mixed vigorously with a spatula to smooth its texture. The texture won't be exactly like stable meringue texture, but it will still be pipeable. Next time you make meringue, reduce whipping time by about a minute and a half.

If the meringue was stable at the end of whipping but became liquid after adding food coloring - first possibility is you added too much color, second possibility is the mixing wasn't gentle - meringue should be mixed very gently.

Baking:

After finishing piping the kisses, put them in the oven on convection/fan setting only.

Colored kisses colored with food coloring are more delicate, so: in most ovens 70-75°C (158-167°F) for 4 hours.

White kisses without food coloring are more durable, so higher temperature: in most ovens 80-90°C (176-194°F) for 3 hours.

I recommend leaving the oven door slightly open (about 5cm) during the entire baking time. You can put a wooden spoon between the oven door and oven.

There are 2 reasons for this:

1. So the oven doesn't become a pressure chamber of heat, which could cause the meringue to crack.
2. To release moisture that's released during baking. Moisture makes the kisses sticky.

• You can put several trays in together (except branded kisses with transfer sheets - explanation follows)
• Oven temperature varies according to oven power - the stronger the oven power, the lower the temperature. The weaker the oven power, the higher the temperature.
• If you put kisses in the oven and they cracked - the heat is too high.
• If your kisses are still soft after 4-5 hours in the oven - the heat is too low.
• Baking time also varies according to oven power - the stronger the oven power, the shorter the baking time. The weaker the oven power, the longer the baking time.
• At the end of baking, don't leave the kisses to cool, but immediately put them in an airtight container and store at room temperature.

For Colored Kisses:

Color the meringue with gel food coloring for whipped cream.

Important - food coloring adds moisture to meringue and thus "weakens" it, so colored kisses need lower heat in the oven and longer baking time than white kisses.

If you want the entire quantity in the same color, add food coloring to the mixer one minute before finishing whipping.

If you want different colors, divide the meringue into bowls, add food coloring and mix with very gentle movements.

Transfer to piping bags with tips and pipe onto parchment paper. No need to maintain spacing between kisses - their size doesn't change during baking.

If you want to add candies, sprinkles, dusting powder to kisses - do this before baking.

If you have leftover meringue and ran out of oven space (true only for non-branded kisses) - don't leave the meringue in piping bags, but pipe kisses (can also be in disposable pans) and leave them in an unventilated room until the oven is free, then put in the oven. Don't worry - meringue doesn't spoil - did you know they used to dry kisses in the sun? :)
 

Why Kisses Might Come Out Sticky:

1. Moisture in oven during baking - therefore, I recommend leaving the oven door slightly open, as I wrote above.
2. Using too much food coloring - food coloring adds moisture to meringue, so kisses with food coloring need to dry longer in the oven.
3. The kisses absorbed moisture while standing in the room - put in a well-sealed box immediately after baking.
4. If you previously made anything in the oven that releases moisture like cake, cupcakes, etc. - leave the oven on 200°C (392°F) convection with door open for an hour and only then put in kisses.

I show the entire piping process in a live video I broadcast - link to video appears at the top of the page.

Generally, it's better to make white branded kisses (with transfer sheets) without food coloring.

But if you still want to make with color - use just a drop/touch of color so as not to add too much moisture that will ruin the print on the sheet.

When the meringue is ready, transfer to piping bags with a 16mm or 8b serrated tip.

Cut the transfer sheet into squares of 9 prints and rectangles of 6 prints and place at intervals directly on the oven baking tray (not disposable) without parchment paper. (There's a link to video at the end of the recipe)

Pipe kisses according to print location, with piping height very close to the sheet.

After piping, put in oven - temperature varies from oven to oven, average range 80-90°C (176-194°F). Here too, leave the oven door opening. Baking time 3 hours.

After 3 hours, remove the tray from the oven, detach the kisses from the sheet and put in an airtight container.

• Branded kisses (with transfer sheets) must be put in the oven immediately after piping. Cannot be left outside until the oven is free.
• You can put branded kisses (with transfer sheets) and non-branded kisses (white or colored with very little food coloring) in the oven together.

Branded Kisses (with Transfer Sheets) - Oven Position:

The safe rack in the oven is the bottom one. Regarding other racks - success depends on convection quality which varies from oven to oven. To test other racks, conduct an experiment - put one row of transfer sheet on upper racks - if the print transfers successfully, next time you can place a full sheet on those racks.

If you piped branded kisses (with transfer sheets) and have leftover meringue, you can pipe kisses without transfer and put in oven together. Cannot save leftover meringue for next time.

Possible Reasons for Branded Kiss (with Transfer Sheets) Failure:

1. If a drop of egg yolk got into the egg white, the kisses are lost.
2. Meringue too liquid.
3. If all the print comes out blurry/smeared on the kiss, it means the kisses absorbed moisture during baking.
4. If there's a depression in the center of the print on the kiss - there can be 2 reasons: piping started too high and not close to the print, or baking heat too low.
5. If the print didn't transfer completely and "peeled off" the kiss, baking time might be too short.
6. Print transferred but kiss exploded or changed color - heat was probably too high.
7. If you previously made anything in the oven that releases moisture like cake, cupcakes, etc. - leave the oven on 200°C (392°F) convection with door open for an hour and only then put in branded kisses (with transfer sheets).
8. If you put kisses colored with lots of food coloring in the oven together with branded ones (with transfer sheets), and they released moisture into the oven that ruined the print.
9. After finishing piping kisses on transfer sheets, immediately put in oven, otherwise the print might come out blurry.

Good luck!