Meringue Kisses

For when you have leftover egg whites and it's not too humid.

So on that snow day when I made the custard, I had the 6 corresponding egg whites looking for something to do. I'm not sure why, but I feel like meringue kisses are low guilt and healthy, and if your patient, they are really easy to make.

Sorry for the lack of photos, I got so in the groove of making them that I totally forgot to take any pictures. Thankfully, this is so simple that you won't need the how-to photos.

There are a couple of ways to help stabilize the whites once they're whipped. Cream of tartar is one, white vinegar is another, as is lemon juice. The lemon juice was my choice because I was planing to flavor the cookies with lemon extract.

What is important to this recipe is using non-porous glass and stainless steel: not plastic and silicone which can retain micro-bits of oil or fat residue -- even after thorough washing -- that can hinder the fluffiness and stability of your meringue. Another factor is humidity, I've tried to make these in the hot summer and it's nearly impossible to get them to be crispy / crunchy, but a nice warm dry kitchen -- even during a blizzard -- will deliver the perfect light crunchy meringue kiss. Finally, patience is a virtue for sure as you may need to leave the kisses to sit overnight in the cooling oven until they reach their peak.

THE RECIPE:

6 large egg whites

2C confectioners sugar

2T lemon juice

1-2 t lemon extract (or another flavor that you may prefer.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees (and don't plan on using it for anything else -- possible over night)

Place the whites and the lemon juice in a large clean glass, stainless, or copper bowl.

Using a hand mixer, metal whisk, or even your stand mixer, beat the egg whites and lemon juice until soft peaks form and you can see a trail in the whites when you drag the whisk or a metal spoon through.

Keep beating and gradually add the sugar and keep beating until stiff peaks form.

Add the lemon (or other) extract and beat to blend well.

Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Use a tablespoon or cookie snooper to drop dollops of the meringue onto the parchment. (you can do this with a pastry bag and star tip if you want them fancy; I prefer the rustic look)

Bake them in the 200 degree oven until the kisses are totally loose from the parchment. I rotated the 2 pans about every 45 minutes and because my kisses were kind of large, I baked them for about 5 hours. THEN, I turned off the oven, left them in there and went to bed.

The next morning.... PERFECTION!

A couple of things to note:

The bake time is directly proportional to the size of the kisses. Mine were more like cookies than actual meringue kisses which are usually a single pop-in-your-mouth bite.

Be patient and keep the oven at 200 degrees. if you do, the cookies will stay a nice pure white short of any flavoring with color. (chocolate, cinnamon, orange or lemon zest etc). if you raise the temp even to 220 degrees, the kisses might pick up some toasting on the bottoms.