Cooking with Toti
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Little Sugar Kisses (Naturally Pink Meringues)
Crisp meringue kisses tinted naturally pink with dragon fruit powder.
Serves
about 40 kisses
Time
2½ hr (mostly drying)
Light, crisp meringue cookies whipped over a water bath and tinted naturally pink with dragon fruit powder — no food coloring. Perfect for Valentine's, spring tables and pretty coffee treats.
Instructions
- 1
Bring a pot of water to a gentle simmer. Set a clean, dry, heatproof bowl on top — bottom shouldn't touch water.
- 2
Add egg whites, sugar and powdered vanilla to the bowl. Stir occasionally until sugar fully dissolves and the mixture is warm, smooth and glossy.
- 3
Remove from heat. (Add liquid vanilla extract now if using.)
- 4
Whip on high until thick, glossy, stiff peaks.
- 5
Sprinkle in dragon fruit powder; beat briefly until evenly pink.
- 6
Preheat oven to 100°C / 210°F (no fan). Line a tray with parchment.
- 7
Pipe small kisses onto the parchment, spaced slightly apart.
- 8
Bake/dry 1½–2 hours. Smaller ones dry faster — check periodically.
- 9
Turn oven off, crack the door, let cool inside. Store airtight in a dry place.
Toti’s Tips
- ✓Make sure the bowl and whisk are completely clean and dry before you start. Even a trace of grease or egg yolk stops egg whites from whipping up to full volume, since fat breaks down the protein structure that holds the air.
- ✓Heating the egg whites and sugar over a water bath first dissolves the sugar fully, which is what gives the finished meringue that smooth, not-gritty texture.
- ✓Whip on low heat and take your time getting to stiff peaks. Rushing at high speed can overwhip the egg whites before the structure is fully stable, leading to cracking once they dry.
- ✓Add the dragon fruit powder after the meringue is already whipped to stiff peaks, so the added moisture and weight don't deflate all that trapped air.
- ✓Dry the kisses low and slow at 210°F rather than actually baking them — this evaporates the moisture out slowly so they turn crisp outside while staying a little chewy inside, instead of browning or collapsing.
- ✓Smaller piped kisses dry faster than bigger ones, so check them periodically instead of trusting one fixed time for the whole tray.
- ✓Cool them inside the turned-off oven with the door cracked. A sudden change in temperature or humidity can cause meringues to crack or turn sticky.
- ✓Store them airtight in a dry spot — meringue is basically dried sugar and egg white, so any humidity in the air will make it go soft and sticky fast.
Storage
- •Airtight container in a dry place.
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