Coffee Meringue Kisses
Submitted by xenaBMW
Coffee meringue kisses with instant coffee ground into sugar, whipped with egg whites and vanilla. Baked low and slow until crisp, airy, and melt-in-your-mouth light.
These meringue kisses dissolve on your tongue with a rush of coffee and vanilla. Five ingredients, no flour, no butter, no dairy. Just egg whites, sugar, instant coffee, vanilla, and cream of tartar whipped into glossy clouds and baked until crisp.
The technique that makes these special: processing the sugar with instant coffee powder in a food processor until the sugar is superfine and the coffee is completely incorporated. This ensures the coffee flavor is distributed evenly through every bite rather than leaving gritty, unmelted coffee granules in the meringue.
Baking happens at a very low temperature for a full hour, then the oven gets turned off and the meringues dry inside for another two to three hours (or overnight). This slow drying is what creates that shatteringly crisp exterior with a slightly chewy center. Opening the oven door during baking lets in humidity and can cause the meringues to crack or collapse.
Chef Tips
- Use room-temperature egg whites. They whip up higher and faster than cold ones.
- Make sure the bowl and beaters are completely clean and grease-free. Even a trace of fat prevents egg whites from whipping properly.
- Pipe with a pastry bag for uniform kisses, or drop by tablespoon for a more rustic look. Both work equally well.
- Store in an airtight container immediately after cooling. Meringues absorb moisture from the air and turn sticky within hours.
Variations
- Dip the bottoms of cooled meringues in melted dark chocolate for a mocha finish.
- Replace instant coffee with matcha powder for green tea meringue kisses.
- Fold in mini chocolate chips just before piping for coffee-chocolate bites.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat oven to 250’F.
Use nonstick cookie sheets, or line regular cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a food processor with a metal blade, process the sugar and coffee powder until the texture of the sugar becomes very fine.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites and vanilla extract with an electric mixer at medium speed, until very frothy.
Add cream of tartar, and continue beating at medium speed until soft peaks form.
Increase beater speed to high, and gradually beat in sugar- coffee mixture.
Continue beating until soft peaks form and mixture has a glossy sheen.
To pipe cookies from pastry bag: Fill pastry bag (or 1-gallon freezer bag), fitted with Number 6 plain round pastry tube, with meringue.
Hold bag upright over prepared cookie sheets and squeeze out meringue, leaving pastry tip buried in meringue, until you have piped out a round about 1½ inch in diameter.
Lift up tip and stop squeezing.
Leave 1” between cookies.
Or, drop by tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet, leaving 2” between cookies.
Bake 1 hour without opening oven door.
Turn off oven, and let meringues dry in oven 2 to 3 hours more without opening oven door.
(After the first hour, it’s okay to peek just once.) At this point you can leave them in the oven overnight.
Remove the meringues from the cookie sheet with a spatula.
Store in airtight container.
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