Meringue kisses are very light and according to me, flavor bombs when they come in different flavors and exciting to pick every other one after the other . I had hand full of natural flavor extracts which I keep collecting every time I have someone coming down from abroad. I used this opportunity to flavor my meringue according to the colors.

Meringue as its technical meaning is whipping egg whites and sugar and then flavoring it according to our choice. Coloring the meringue is the fun and tricky part which you would enjoy finally to see the results. I decided to use, chocolate, mango, mint and lemon. Meringue can also be made using the Italian method where the whites are whipped and soft ball staged hot sugar syrup is poured and then beaten up on high speed until meringue is formed. But I have used the usual method of adding sugar to the frothy egg whites. I used castor sugar instead of the regular granulated sugar.

1. Pre-heat oven to 140 degree C. Line up a baking tray with silicon mat/ butter paper. Add egg whites into the bowl of your electric beater. Use stainless steel bowl which has been washed well and dried completely.

2. Beat the egg whites on medium high speed until the egg whites become frothy. Add the salt and keep beating.

3. Add the sugar a little at a time and continue beating on medium high speed for about 5 minutes.

4. Meringue will be formed when you have it glossy and shiny with soft peaks.

5. Invert a piping bag completely. Use a new painting brush or your brush used for kitchen/edible purposes and brush streaks of the color from the tip of the piping bag to 3/4 th of the bag.

6. Re-invert the piping bag and place it inside a tumbler ready to scoop in the meringue.

7. If you are making different flavors, divide the meringue into so many bowls and start adding the flavors to each bowl and gently fold using a rubber spatula. Do not over mix and deflate the meringue.

8. Fill the piping bag with the flavored meringue, gently by scooping into the piping bag set over the tumbler.

9. Gently lift the piping bag and bring the meringue down. Snip the tip of the piping bag into a one inch hole opening.

10. Pipe the meringue in the prepared baking tray. Hold your piping bag at 90 degrees. Squeeze the meringue out as you lift the piping bag. Once you reach the level that is sufficient for the kisses, stop squeezing and quickly pull away your hands with the piping bag. This swift movement away will give you a nice bend on top of the kisses. If you are very careful and if move your hands slowly, then you will end up with straight topped kisses. The bent ones are cuter.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 140 degree C for 60 minutes to 80 minutes. You will have a completely set meringue which is soft to the touch while it is just out of the oven, and it will set to hard once cooled down.

Store them in zip lock pouches and then in airtight container. They are good for 2 to 3 days. They have a crunchy top and a marshmallowy inside. Perfect to bite!