For years I have seen boxes of meringue kisses in different colors at the grocery store. I have only made Mini Pavlovas with Fresh Berries, another egg white recipe, but have never attempted meringue cookies.

For the holidays and to spruce up your cup of hot cocoa, we have moved it up a notch and made peppermint meringue kisses & candy canes. These are actually much more simple than I imagined, and most importantly, they will last for up to two weeks.

The perfect make-ahead Christmas cookie or really anytime dessert. If you need a recipe for your egg yolks, be sure to check out our Italian Lemon Cake. 

Peppermint Meringue Kisses & Candy Canes

These sweet treats are best made in a stand p mixer fitted with a whisk. I am sure back in the day, these were done by hand, but why do that now. You want shiny egg whites like this. 

For the striped effect, use a new paintbrush and add lines of gel food coloring inside the piping bag. Here is a filled bag. I could not get a good photo before adding the meringue batter. 

Then squeeze away. 

Bake the meringues in a low oven until hardened. (You will also leave them in the oven for an hour more to completely dry out)

Of course, we had to try something a little more fun for the holidays. When it comes to red and white stripes, I can only think about candy canes. They are already flavored with peppermint, so candy cane shapes it was. 

While meringues are pretty fragile cookies, they candy canes kept their shape without a problem. 

So next time you are serving someone a cup of hot cocoa, be sure to add one of these adorable meringue cookies to the edge of the cup. 

Of course we also added a few meringue kisses, they deserve the same amount of attention.

Peppermint Meringue Kisses Recipe

Peppermint Meringue Kisses

Yield: 30 Kisses

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

a super easy and festive cookie that will last for 2 weeks in a storage container. Peppermint Meringue Kisses

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Ingredients

• 3 large egg whites
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• Red food coloring, preferably gel

Instructions

1. Position oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 250 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium-high speed in a large bowl until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form. While beating, add the sugar slowly. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Beat in the peppermint extract.
3. Fold the top of a pastry bag fitted with a star tip #22 or #21 over and down a few inches. Dip a new paintbrush in the food coloring. Starting inside the pastry tip, brush a stroke of food coloring from the tip to the 3/4 up the bag. Repeat with 3 more evenly spaced strokes. Fill the bag with the meringue; try to spoon it directly into the center so as not to smudge the food coloring (though some smudging is inevitable). Pipe 1-inch-diameter mounds of meringue spaced 1 inch apart onto the prepared baking sheets or pipe 3 inch candy canes.
4. Bake until the meringues for 25 minutes, then switch the cookie sheets. Bake another 25 minutes until they are no longer glossy and feel light and dry when picked up. Open the oven for a few minutes, then turn it off and shut the door. Leave the meringues in the oven until they are completely dry inside, about 1 hour

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1 cookie
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 20 Sodium: 5mg Carbohydrates: 5g Sugar: 5g