
These meringue kisses cookies were a staple of our Christmas cookie platter every year when I was growing up. They were my brother’s favorite. The base is a simple meringue with chocolate chips mixed in and then baked into a very chocolatey, crunchy-yet-chewy cookie. It’s a great compliment on any cookie tray as its texture and lightness always stand out.
Kisses are also a great “technical challenge” for young bakers or anyone trying to get the hang of meringues. The base meringue for these cookies is very simple, the key is to start with room temperature eggs, separate the egg yolks and egg whites very cleanly and then mix in a VERY clean bowl. If you do all three things, you should have no problem. Any amount of fat or oil in the bowl or on the beaters – even from your fingers – will prevent the meringue from rising as it should. So, just make sure everything is very clean and dry before starting.
Once you get the hang of these, you can really play around with the flavors and mix-ins. For example, I’ve replaced the vanilla with a small amount of mint extract and bit of green food coloring to make mint chocolate kisses. I’ve also omitted the chocolate all together and for flavoring I did half vanilla and half orange extract so that the flavor was closer to a dreamsicle. In this case, without the chocolate chips the meringue was able to be piped through a pastry bag which I lined with stripes of orange food coloring and piped really decorative, orange striped kisses.
I hope you give these meringue kisses a try. Is a delicious way to text your technical skills and learn a little about making meringues. Then, let me know any fun ways you’ve made the recipe your own! If you give it a try, share your thoughts in the comments or share a photo with me on Instagram (@bdhbakes).
