CANDY CANE KISS MERINGUES

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 175...yes 175, not a typo! :o) Line 1 large cookie sheet or 2 smaller ones with parchment paper. Place unwrapped kisses onto the cookie sheets. I got 7 rows of 5 on one cookie sheet.
• 2. Combine your room temperature eggs whites with the sugar and allow to stand 15 minutes. This will help dissolve the sugar. Add cream of tartar to the sugar mixture and beat on high until stiff peaks form. Then mix in peppermint extract.
• 3. Take a large pastry bag/icing bag and snip the tip off to leave a 1/2" opening. Take your red food color and carefully squirt a stripe down the inside of bag, (less is more) press sides together so you have 2 stripes. Fill your bag with meringue and swirl around each kiss. Starting on the bottom and swirling around to the top finishing at the top, gently pull up on pastry bag to create a nice tip.
• 4. Bake at 175 for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Then turn oven off, open oven door, leave meringues in the oven, allowing them to cool slowly. When cool, immediately remove from cookies sheets and put into an air tight container to keep them crispy.
• 5. Gel color works best for this. You can also use a small paint brush to paint a stripe on the inside of the bag.