Peppermint Meringues Recipe

It’s suuuper close to Christmas now so you know what that means? MOAR PEPPERMINT! These cute little Peppermint Meringues are super quick to whip up and so much fun to pipe out! They are bite sized too and you just know everything good comes in bite sized form. For more peppermint recipes check out my candy cane peppermint chocolate bark.

For these Peppermint Meringues, I chose a French Meringue. This means that I simply whisked the egg whites with additions of sugar, piped it and baked it. This is the most common form of meringue and the easiest as opposed to Italian and Swiss, which both call for heat in some form or another.

Tips for making meringues?

-Ensure all bowls and utensils are grease free. This means washing them in hot soapy water and drying well before using. Any residue of grease from your equipment might inhibit the eggs whipping to full peaks.

-Don’t get any yolk in your whites. Be very careful when separating your eggs. Always separate into a bowl that is not your mixing bowl so if you accidentally get yolk into your whites it doesn’t ruin all of them. If it’s only a little bit of yolk you can fish it out with the egg shell itself, yolk will gravitate towards the shell and make it easier to remove. But if you have a lot of yolk, it’s better to just use it for other baking and start fresh again.

-Add sugar gradually. In my recipe, I add all the caster sugar to the egg whites at the start and then when they have started to whip and stabilise I start to add the icing sugar and cornflour in additions. If you add too much sugar at once you can deflate the meringue and it won’t whip to hard peaks.

-Allow to rest before baking. These meringues will crack if you don’t rest them for the 15 minutes indicated. They will expand a little bit in the oven and the resting helps to form a thin skin on the top of the meringue. This way, the meringue will expand out the bottom, like a macaron, rather than it try to escape through the top and crack.

-Oven temperature is important. Do not set your oven higher than 105°c(220°f) if fan assisted (110°c/230°f). Temperatures higher than this will cause the meringue to crack or turn brown. If you notice the meringue start to do either of these, reduce your oven temperature by 5-10°c.

-Whip the meringue to stiff peaks. But what does this mean? It means that when you pull the whisk away from your meringue it should hold a stiff peak, aka it should hold it’s shape firmly. All the tips above will help you form a stiff meringue along with ensuring to whisk the meringue for a good 2-3 minutes after all the ingredients have been added.

Peppermint Meringues

Pink Haired Pastry Chef

Peppermint flavoured meringues in mini size. Crispy on the outside and marshmallow like texture inside.

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Prep Time 30 mins

Cook Time 25 mins

Resting time 15 mins

Total Time 1 hr 10 mins

Course Baked goods, Baking

Cuisine Baking, Gluten free

Servings 70 ish small meringues

Calories 19 kcal

Equipment

• Large mixing bowl
• Medium sized bowl
• Electric mixer/stand mixer
• Rubber spatula
• Flat baking trays
• Piping bags
• Plain piping nozzle

Ingredients

  

• 100 grams egg whites
• 100 grams caster sugar
• 1 tsp peppermint essence
• 200 grams icing sugar
• 20 grams cornflour
• red food colouring

Instructions

 

• Clean your large mixing bowl thoroughly to ensure there's no grease.
• Add the egg whites, caster sugar and peppermint essence and whisk on medium for 2-3 minutes, it will have doubled in size and become foamy.
• In the medium sized mixing bowl combine the icing sugar and cornflour.
• Add a heaped tablespoon of the sugar mixture and whisk again on medium for 30 seconds.
• Repeat this process until all the sugar mix has been used.
• Turn up the whisk to high and beat for another 2-3 minutes until thick and glossy. The meringue should form a peak when you lift the whisk out of the bowl and not fall back down.
• Put stripes of red food colouring on the inside of your piping bag and fill about 2/3 with meringue.
• Twist the top of the piping bag to close and pipe small circles onto lined flat baking trays. Lift the piping bag up quickly to create a peak on the top and give a "Hershey's Kiss" look.
• Continue until all the meringue is used, putting more red colouring on the piping bag if necessary.
• Allow the meringues to rest 15 minutes before baking.
• While they rest, preheat the oven to 105°(220°f).
• Once the meringues are rested, bake for 20-25 minutes or until they lift cleanly off the baking tray.

Keyword Christmas, Gluten free, Gluten free recipe, Meringue, Peppermint