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Strawberry Meringues

Prep Time 3 hours 12 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 12 minutes
Author Chris Scheuer

Ingredients

  • 4 egg whites from 4 large eggs
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 ¼ cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ cup strained strawberry jam* warm the jam in the microwave for 20-30 seconds before straining, it will be infinitely easier to push through a strainer
  • 48 milk or dark chocolate Hersheys Kisses

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 200°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or foil lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Unwrap Hershey Kisses (an excellent kid's job) and place 24 Kisses on each sheet for a total of 48.
  2. With an electric mixer, beat egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar; beat until soft peaks form. Increase speed to medium-high. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla extract until combined.
  3. Prepare a large pastry bag (or a large resealable plastic bag with one corner snipped off) with a large star tip. Spoon meringue batter into bag drizzling 1-2 teaspoons jam over each large spoonful. Pipe a circle around each kiss and continue piping two gradually smaller circles on top of the first circle, forming a larger "kiss".
  4. Place the two sheet pans in pre-heated oven and bake for one hour. Turn oven off and allow meringues to remain in oven at least 1 hour or until completely cooled.

Recipe Notes

Notes:
~ *Look for the brightest, prettiest strawberry jam you can find. I used my Strawberry Freezer Jam as it keeps it beautiful color even after being frozen for months!
~ Eggs separate more easily when they are warm. Place egg whites in bowl and bring to room temperature. To speed up this process, place bowl of egg whites into a slightly larger bowl containing lukewarm water.
~ Make sure beater and mixing bowl are spotlessly clean. Any grease in the mixture will deflate meringue.
~ It's more difficult to make succesful meringues when the weather is humid. Moisture will prevent egg whites from forming stiff peaks.
Adapted from McCormick