Bonus Coffee Recipe: Espresso Meringue Kisses

http://coffeebreak2day.com/http://coffeebreak2day.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/coffee-meringue-recipe.jpg" alt="coffee meringues" title="coffee meringues" align="right" border="0" height="175" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="250" />After I posted the recipe for the egg biscuits this morning, I just had to make up a batch, which went wonderfully with my coffee -- and left me with a couple of egg whites left over from the egg yolk coffee wash. Rather than let them go to waste, I whipped up a batch of these melt-in-your-mouth espresso meringue kisses and figured I might as well share the recipe for these, too.

They're super-easy to make, if you keep a couple of things in mind. First, use a metal or glass bowl -- plastic tneds to hold onto grease, which will kill the volume on the egg whites. Second, start with room temp egg whites -- you'll get much more volume when you whip them. Third, don't try to make these on a humid day. They'll never dry properly. Finally, serve a couple with after-dinner espresso at a dinner party, and you'll have your guests begging you for the recipe. They really ARE that awesome.

Espresso Meringue Kisses

Preheat the oven to 250 F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Whip the egg whites in a small bowl at high speed until soft peaks form.

Add in the sugar a teaspoon at a time, continuing to whip at high speed until the sugar is absorbed and stiff peaks form. The mixture should be glossy.

Add the espresso in a slow stream,  continuing to whip the egg whites at high speed. This will dilute the egg whites at first, but if you continue beating, they'll thicken up until they form stiff peaks again.

Spoon the meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a rosette tip. If you don't have a pastry bag, you can improvise with a waxed paper cone or cut the corner out of a plastic baggie. Or, honestly, if you're not feeling fancy, you can just drop the meringue mixture onto the cookie sheet with a spoon. The rosette tip makes them awfully pretty though.

Pipe the meringue out in 1-inch rosettes spaced about 1 inch apart on the parchment paper.

Bake at 250 F. for 1 hour. Turn the oven off, but don't open the door. Leave the meringues in the oven for two hours.

Store the meringues in an airtight container.