It’s September and the mornings are getting wonderfully crisp right now. We absolutely love this time of year. Maybe we’re strange, but we love to start work even earlier in the morning. Hello there 6am meetings with giant mugs of hot coffee and freshly baked croissants (yes, we bake croissants for power/work breakfasts when we feel so inclined). Whilst sipping on a morning latte and biting into mini pain au chocolates just out of the oven we thought of putting together a quick how-to for some tiny sugary bites… a meringue kisses recipe. This is a version of our go-to meringue recipe that is perfect for Autumn mornings; studded with bursts of coffee and dipped in creamy Belgian chocolate of course!
Belgian chocolate dipped mocha meringue kisses recipe!
Ingredients needed…
- 35g egg whites
- 70g caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
- 2 teaspoons sieved cocoa powder (optional)
- A handful of dark Belgian chocolate chips, buttons or callets
01: Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees C (fan) / 180 degrees C (non-fan) / 325 degrees F / gas mark 4.
02: One of the first things you need to do for this meringue kisses recipe is heat up that sugar. This helps it to dissolve better and quicker into the whipped egg whites which means lovely smooth and non-grainy meringues! Yay! Pour the sugar onto a baking tray and place in your pre-heated oven for 5 minutes.
03: Add your egg whites to the bowl of a stand-up mixer and mix on high with the whisk attachment until they start to look like the lovely frothy eggs above. When ready add in the cream of tartar and mix until combined.
04: Whilst on medium speed spoon in your heated sugar mix. Your meringue should begin to look gorgeously glossy and it should also begin to stiffen up.
05: Grind your coffee granules down roughly and mix in the cocoa powder (the cocoa is optional, however, as it depends on how chocolate-y you’d love your meringues). We left the cocoa powder out of ours to get a stronger hit of coffee for each kiss. Remember not to completely grind down all your coffee.
06: Add the coffee mix to your meringue and whip until incorporated. Ours looked like this, but if you’ve added cocoa powder then you should be left with a light chocolate looking meringue.
06: Spoon the meringue into a disposable piping bag fitted with a medium plain round piping tip and on a lined baking tray pipe rows of meringue drops. Make sure to space these out at around 2cm.
07: Now place them in the oven and leave them to bake for around 25 - 35 minutes. We use a convection oven (which is basically a fan assisted oven) so it took only 25 minutes for our kisses to be done.
08: Remove your tray of meringue kisses from the oven once they’re ready and set them aside to cool. We always recommend investing in a marble pastry slab as leaving your bakes to cool on marble means they’re ready in half the time!
09: Once ready and cooled down you can start melting down your chocolate. Add the chips or buttons to a microwave safe jug/bowl and heat at 30 second intervals gently stirring the chocolate at each check point until ready. Pour or dollop your melted down chocolate onto a plate so that you can dip your meringues.
10: Meringues are delicate so it’s important that you’re gentle when picking them up and dipping them into the melted chocolate. Don’t grab the very tips of them. Instead pick them up lower down close to the middles. Carefully dip them into the melted chocolate and place them on a tray lined with greaseproof paper to set.
11: Setting time can vary depending on the weather, but they should be ready when the chocolate no longer looks wet. If you live in a warm and humid climate you could be waiting for your kisses to dry for around an hour.
If you want to check your local levels of humidity (essential for anything involving sugar) then try out a handy app in the iStore or via android!
Now you can enjoy your homemade chocolate dipped mocha meringue kisses with a hot cup or coffee (or tea… or even hot chocolate loaded with whipped cream and marshmallows). These little gems are hygroscopic (they soak in moisture from the atmosphere around them) so as soon as they’re done store them in an airtight container and keep in a cool dry place. They should last for a good 2 weeks so they’re great to keep for a succession of mid-afternoon pick-me-ups!
One of the best things about this meringue kisses recipe is that you can add or leave out whatever amount of coffee you like. Add in an extra teaspoon of coffee to your mix for more of an espresso hit. Up the chocolate, add a dash of vanilla bean paste and sift cocoa powder on top for more of a chocolate-y mocha taste.
If you’re feeling super adventurous you can try adding a small amount of chilli flakes into your melted chocolate before dipping, add sprinkles of brown sugar on top of each before lightly blow torching for a coffee creme brûlée effect or even adding finely chopped toffee into the meringue before piping for a caramel latte flavour!
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