New Years Eve Coconut Meringue Kisses
Do you have someone to kiss at midnight? Fear not, I’ve got you covered with these NYE Coconut Meringue Kisses!
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Meringue Kisses
I love everything about meringue kisses: their crisp outer shell and soft marshmallowy centre; the fact that they are so versatile and can be decorated any way you like; the list goes on.
When I’ve made these in the past I’ve focused more on the aesthetics, painting them with green and red stripes. But this year I’ve gone for a much more subtle design.
White, silver and copper pearls are scattered over the meringue immediately before baking for a chic, elegant look. With their shimmering sprinkles, these meringue kisses are perfect for serving at your New Years Eve party!
They are pretty sweet so I recommend serving with a lovely dry champagne or prosecco.
Perfecting flavoured meringue
If you’ve ever tried flavouring meringue you’ll know that some flavourings just don’t work. Anything wet is basically a complete no-go – forget fruit juice or liquid flavour extracts! Instead, powdered/dry flavourings work best.
Desiccated coconut being nice and, well, dry is ideal!
You follow the same process as you ordinarily would when making meringue, you simply fold in a couple of tablespoons of desiccated coconut before you transfer the mix to your piping bag. It really is that simple!
Feel free to experiment with your own flavours so long as they are in dried powder form (like freeze dried raspberries or cocoa powder).
The recipe
Coconut Meringue Kisses
Ingredients
- 300 grams caster sugar see note 1
- 150 grams egg whites roughly 5 medium eggs, see note 1
- 6 tbsp desiccated coconut
- sprinkles to decorate, optional
Instructions
- Place the caster sugar into an oven dish and place into a hot oven (220C/200C) for roughly 5 minutes until the sugar is hot but not yet melted.
- Take the sugar out of the oven and immediately begin whisking the egg whites in a large bowl.
- Once the egg whites have formed stiff peaks, turn the whisk speed to maximum and begin adding the warm sugar one spoon at a time.
- Make sure that the egg whites are forming stiff peaks again before adding in the next spoon full.
- Once all of the sugar has been added to the mixture, add in the desiccated coconut and whisk on high for another 5 minutes to ensure the egg whites are thick, firm and glossy.
- Fill a piping bag with the meringue and cut a large opening at the bottom of each bag.
- Pipe a small amount of meringue on to a large baking tray and then line the tray with grease proof paper (the little bit of meringue in each corner will help it stick).
- Pipe the meringue kisses by holding the piping bag upright, squeeze gently and lift away as you stop applying pressure.
- Repeat over and over again until the whole baking sheet is covered and all the meringue used up.
- Sprinkle over oven safe sprinkles (i.e. ones that won’t melt) if using.
- Cook the meringues in the centre of the oven for 30-45 minutes at 100C/80C or until the meringue kisses come off of the baking paper without leaving their bottoms behind.
- Allow to cool completely before eating.
Notes
Nutrition
More New Year’s Eve Recipes
For the full range of recipes perfect for celebrating the end of the year and the start of the new one, check out the New Year’s Eve recipe collection.
Zero rating. Tried for my daughters 21 st birthday.
If you add the coconut and whisk for 5 mins the mixture is too runny and does not keep its shape.
They also need to be cooked a lot longer that the time given. Even after cooling they came off the parchment paper in bits, far too soggy in the middle.
Hi Gail. Sorry to hear you had some issues. Runny meringue is usually a sign of under whipping. Whilst I say whisk on high for 5 minutes I also say until the mixture is thick and glossy. Your mixer may not be as strong as mine and if you stopped before they were that consistency that will be why they did not work.
I’ve made these hundreds of times and learnt from the best (the Meringue Girls). I will take your comments on board and update the post with more tips and advice if you find yourself in this situation again.
Without being in your kitchen seeing you weigh your ingredients, warm the sugar etc it’s hard to know what went wrong for you!
After seeing the other comment about the meringue not holding its shape, I was very careful to follow instructions and quantities exactly. I had a beautiful thick shiny meringue going after incorporating the warm sugar a spoonful at a time. Then I slowly added the desiccated coconut gradually while continuing to beat, and the meringue turned runny. No amount of beating would bring it back, so I salvaged the mixture by substituting it for the three whole eggs and same amount of sugar in a simple yogurt cake (it worked).
I wonder if my coconut was different than what you tested? I’m in Germany. The coconut is unsweetened and ver finely grated.
I will try the meringues again the next time I have extra egg whites but will skip the coconut. I liked the toasty flavor of the sugar after heating it (reminded me of cotton candy).
Hi Tamara, I’m sorry to hear they didn’t work for you. It sounds as though the coconut is the issue. In the UK we have desiccated coconut which has been dried out. Shredded coconut or coconut which is fresh but grated usually have a higher moisture content which may be causing the meringue mixture to loosen.
Gosh, so bummed that I didn’t see these comments. What a waste of ingredients. Exactly the same as above as soon as the coconut was added the whole mixture turned completely liquid.
Hi Di
So, so sorry you had issues with the recipe. Meringues are fickle things and there could be a couple of issues that meant your meringues flopped. Under whipping and grease in the bowl or on your whisk are the most common. I hope that helps.