Meringue Cranberry Kisses Food

MERINGUE KISSES II

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (130 degrees C). Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat egg whites until very stiff and dry. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar slowly and continue beating until mixture holds its shape.
• Add flavoring extract. Fold in another 1/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup finely crushed nut brittle or other crushed candy.
• Drop or form into desired shapes on parchment covered cookie sheet. You can sprinkle lightly with either more crushed candy or powdered confectioner sugar, if desired. Place in oven for 30-35 minutes until set and delicately brown.
• To remove baked kisses from paper if you have a problem, lay out a hot, wet towel and place paper with kisses on towel. Let stand about 1 minute and steam will loosen kisses. Slip them off the paper with a spatula.

MERINGUE KISSES

Steps:

• Place egg whites in a small bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Beat egg whites until foamy. Sprinkle with cream of tartar and salt; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and vanilla, beating until stiff peaks form, about 5-8 minutes. If desired, divide batter in half and fold in red and green food coloring. , Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 1-1/2-in. apart onto lightly greased baking sheets. Press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie and cover it with meringue, using a knife. , Bake at 275° for 30-35 minutes or until firm to the touch. Immediately remove to a wire rack to cool. If desired, sprinkle with cocoa. Store in an airtight container.

CRANBERRY COOKIE KISSES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200°F.
• Coat 2 large sheet pans with cooking spray or cover with parchment paper.
• Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form; gradually beat in sugar until mixture is very stiff and shiny.
• Gradually fold in cranberry sauce (you can add a few drops of red food coloring at this point, if desired) while beating for 1 minute.
• Drop batter by teaspoonfuls onto prepared sheet pans; press 1 dried cranberry into the top of each cookie.
• Bake for 2 hours.
• Cool completely before removing from pans.
• Store in airtight containers.
• Yields about 4 cookies per serving.

CHRISTMAS MERINGUE KISSES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 275.
• Beat egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until they are doubled in size.
• Continue beating and add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Continue beating until the whites create stiff glossy peaks and the sugar is completely dissolved.
• Make sure cherries are very well drained. Gently fold cherries, almonds and chocolate into egg whites.
• Drop by teaspoon fulls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. (Meringues may also be piped through a pastry bag).
• Bake at 275`for 25 minutes or until firmly set.
• Cool on wire racks.
• (You may also drizzle the baked Meringues with melted chocolate after completely cooled).

MERINGUE KISSES & ICICLES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 120C/100C fan/gas ½. Line two-three baking sheets with parchment. Beat the egg whites until they are foamy and doubled in size. Add the sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, while you continue to whisk. The meringue will become thick and glossy and should hold up in stiff peaks on the beaters when it is ready.
• For the meringue kisses, fit a disposable piping bag with a 1cm round or star nozzle. Hold it vertically to the baking sheet and gently squeeze, pulling the bag up and away to make a peak. If you are making frosty icicles, make some meringue dots as well.
• For colour-striped meringues, fit a disposable piping bag with a round nozzle, paint red food colouring paste in stripes onto the inside of the bag, then fill with meringue and pipe as before. Bake for 1 hr. Once cool, you can drizzle some of the meringues with melted chocolate and sprinkle with edible glitter or lustre powder, if you like.
• For the icicles and snowflakes, scoop the meringue into a disposable piping bag and snip off a tiny opening. Pipe spiky icicle shapes onto the trays, making them thicker one end and thin at the other. Pipe crossed lines to make snowflakes.
• Bake for 50 mins, then leave to cool on the tray for a few mins, then carefully loosen them off the parchment. Sprinkle with edible glitter or lustre powder, if you like. If left to cool completely, they may stick and break when you try to lift them off. If you are storing these, leave to cool completely, then layer in an airtight container between pieces of baking parchment. Now use the meringue kisses to make our white chocolate, orange & cranberry Christmas cake.

MERINGUE KISSES WITH PASSION-FRUIT FOOL

Steps:

• Make meringues:
• Preheat oven to 175°F and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Beat whites with salt in a standing electric mixer at high speed (or with a handheld mixer in 2 batches) until they just hold stiff peaks. Gradually add sugar, beating at high speed until whites hold stiff, glossy peaks.
• Spoon half of meringue into pastry bag and pipe 1-inch-wide kisses onto 1 baking sheet, about 1/2 inch apart. Pipe more kisses onto second sheet in same manner. (All kisses will fit on 2 baking sheets.)
• Bake meringues in upper and lower thirds of oven until crisp but still white, about 2 hours.
• Turn off oven and cool meringues in oven 1 hour, then cool completely on sheets on a rack..
• Make fool while meringues bake:
• Sprinkle gelatin over 2 tablespoons pulp in a small heatproof cup and let stand 1 minute to soften.
• Melt softened gelatin in cup in a pan of simmering water, then stir into remaining pulp.
• Beat heavy cream with confectioners sugar using cleaned beaters until it just holds soft peaks, then beat in sour cream until mixture holds stiff peaks. Fold pulp into cream and chill fool, covered, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
• Serve fool with meringues.

MERINGUE KISSES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200°F.
• Butter and flour a large baking sheet, knocking off excess flour.
• In a bowl with an electric mixer beat whites until they hold soft peaks.
• Gradually add sugar, beating, and beat until meringue holds stiff, glossy peaks.
• Drop heaping teaspoons (not measuring spoons) of meringue about 1 inch apart onto baking sheet and bake in middle of oven 45 minutes.
• Turn oven off and leave meringues in oven 1 hour more.
• With a metal spatula transfer meringues to a rack to cool completely.
• Meringue kisses may be kept in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days.
• Makes about 24 meringue kisses.

RASPBERRY MERINGUE KISSES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
• Beat egg whites and salt until foamy.
• Add gelatin and sugar gradually and beat until stiff and sugar is dissolved.
• Mix in vinegar and fold in chocolate chips.
• Drop tablespoonfuls on cookie sheet lined with brown paper.
• Bake for 25 minutes, then turn off the heat and leave the cookies in the oven for another 20 minutes.

MERINGUE KISSES (ALMOND/ORANGE/STRAWBERRY/MINT/COCOA VARIATIONS)

Steps:

• Preheat over to 225 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar with cornstarch and reserve. In a medium bowl, with electric mixer on high speed beat together egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Reduce mixer speed to medium and gradually beat in reserved sugar-cornstarch mixture until incorporated. Add vanilla and almond extracts. Increase mixer speed to high and beat for five minutes, scraping down sides of bowl several times, until stiff and glossy peaks form. If using a pastry bag, fill with mixutre otherwise drop little rounded mounds of meringue with a tablespoon spacing 1/2 inch apart.
• For crisp meringues, bake in preheated oven until firm to the touch and crisp throughout, about 1 1/2 hours, turning baking sheet once from front to back halfway through baking. For chewier meringues, bake about 1 1/4 hours, rotating sheet once halfway through baking.
• Cool meringues slightly on baking sheet on wire rack. Transfer meringues to wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
• ORANGE KISSES:.
• Follow directions, substituting one teaspoon orange extract for vanilla and almond extracts and adding 12 drops orange food coloring.
• STRAWBERRY KISSES:.
• Follow directions, substituting 1 1/2 teaspoons strawberry extract for vanilla and almond extracts and adding 12 drops red food coloring.
• MINT KISSES:.
• Follow directions, substituting 1/4 teaspoon mint extract for vanilla and almond extract and adding 12 drops green food coloring.
• COCOA KISSES:.
• Follow directions, substituting 1 1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract for vanilla and almond extracts. After beating egg white mixture, sift 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder over mixture and fold it gently in until thoroughly blended.