VUE

Instructions: 1. Preheat the oven to 175°F and place a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside. 2. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until so peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes. Whip until the wires of the whisk leave a slight trail in the whites. Test for so peak stage by stopping the mixer and removing the whisk from the whites and liing it up; the whites should peak and then droop. 3. With the mixer on medium, add the superfine sugar in three increments, whipping for about 1 minute between additions. Meanwhile, si the confectioners' sugar and salt together and set aside. Once you've beaten all the superfine sugar into the egg whites, increase the mixer speed to medium-high, add the peppermint extract, and beat for about 15 seconds more. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the confectioners' sugar and salt. 4. Place a 3/4-inch round pastry tip in an 18-inch pastry bag. Fold back the pastry bag about halfway down and cuff it over your hand. Dip a wooden skewer or chopstick into the red food coloring and paint 4 long stripes, starting as close to the tip as you can all the way up the side of the pastry bag. Fill the bag halfway with the meringue (don't ever fill a pastry bag more than halfway or you'll create a mess) and pipe kisses about 1 inch wide and 1 inch tall (around the same size as a Hershey's Kiss) onto the prepared baking sheet. To do this, hold the pastry bag about an inch above the baking sheet, squeeze the meringue out of the bag, release pressure on the bag, and pull up to create the top of the kiss. Pipe kisses about an inch apart and fill up the baking sheet, piping onto a second baking sheet as needed. Add more red food coloring to the inside of the pastry bag as needed when you refill the bag with meringue and pipe until you have used up all the meringue. 5. Bake the kisses for about 4 hours, rotating the baking sheet a few times, until the kisses are completely dried out inside and out (break a few open to check). Turn off the oven but leave the kisses in the oven to dry out overnight. 6. e kisses can be stored in an airtight container. If the weather is not humid, you can store them for up to 1 month. Otherwise they are best eaten within a few days. Peppermint Kisses is excerpted from PASTRY LOVE: A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes © 2019 by Joanne Chang. Photography © 2019 by Kristin Teig. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. 201-408-4441 | www.njeyeandear.com 23 W Palisade Ave, Englewood, NJ 07631 V U E N J . C O M 117

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