hello kitty pavlova

My new book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book, came out this week! Hooray! It's been over a year since I first embarked on this project, and I can't believe it's finally being released!

In honor of my new book, I wanted to show you something you can make with the book's recipe for Hello Kitty meringue cookies - you could also use the same recipe to make Hello Kitty pavlovas! Just pipe a large Hello Kitty, and once it's baked you can add freshly whipped cream and fresh fruit! The combination of delicately crumbly meringue with fluffy whipped cream is out of this world! Trust me!

To pipe my large Hello Kitty meringue, I used a disposable piping bag fitted with a large tip. I piped the outline of Hello Kitty, filled it in, and then added another outline on top to act as the border for the whipped cream. Then just for fun, I piped a bow for hello Kitty, to be placed on top at the end. Then I baked it at 225F for about an hour.

Once baked, your meringue should feel light and airy, and will be delicately crumbly.

Then I just topped it with freshly whipped cream, some fresh raspberries, and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. And of course the bow on top!

Or to change it up, you could even make it an espresso flavored meringue. I used espresso powder dissolved with a bit of water, and whipped it with the meringue after it was already whipped to stiff peaks. SO GOOD!

This time I decided to pipe my border with a large star tip, just to make it look more pretty.

Once baked, I again topped it with freshly whipped cream (this time I added a bit of mascarpone and Kahlua, to amp up the coffee meringue).

Then I added fresh raspberries. (You wouldn't think that raspberries and coffee go together, but it is actually really good!)

This time instead of a bow, I added coffee meringue stars that I had piped with my large star tip!

 

And again to finish it off, I dusted it lightly with powdered sugar. So pretty!

With the rest of the coffee meringue stars, I sandwiched them together with the Kahlua mascarpone whipped cream.

SO GOOD!

Make these today! You won't regret it! :)

hello kitty meringue cookies

After making the mini s'mores cupcakes for my first wedding dessert table, I had a ton of Swiss meringue left over.  As I don't like to let things go to waste, I decided to make meringue cookies with it!  After all, meringue cookies are simply made with meringue, and then baked at a low temperature until the meringue hardens.  So re-whipped my Swiss meringue, and filled a piping bag fitted with a large Wilton 2D tip.  Then I piped rows of pretty stars on a baking sheet lined with a silpat.

But while I was piping my stars, I realized that I could actually make any shape I wanted ... and what I wanted was Hello Kitty meringue cookies!  So I switched to a  large round tip to pipe my Hello Kitty faces, and a Wilton leaf tip to pipe my Hello Kitty ears (similar to how I've piped Hello Kitty onto cupcakes using frosting, or this cake using Swiss meringue buttercream).

For the Hello Kitty bows, I used heart-shaped sprinkles, just like with my Hello Kitty macarons.  And then they were ready for the oven!

I ended up baking them at 250F, for about an hour with the Hello Kitty meringues (and a little longer for the large star meringues).

After they were baked, I thought I could draw Hello Kitty's eyes, nose, and whiskers with edible Foodwriter pens (as I did with my Hello Kitty macarons), but alas the edible pen would not write well on the surface of the meringue!  But no matter, I still thought that the Hello Kitty meringues came out adorable even without faces!

Even the star meringues came out quite cute as well!  Hooray for using up leftovers!

*** Update:
You can now find my recipe for Hello Kitty Meringue Cookies in my new book, "The Hello Kitty Baking Book"! Enjoy!

lemon meringue pie

By the time I got to the signup sheet for my son Matthew's preschool Thanksgiving party, the only things left were things like napkins, plates, (boring!) and ... lemon meringue pie.  Really?  For Thanksgiving?  In any case, I have never made lemon meringue pie, so of course I instantly put my name down!  I wouldn't have ever thought to associate lemon meringue pie with Thanksgiving, but at least this year I didn't have to make an entire turkey for the party like I did last year!

For the crust I used my favorite all-butter crust recipe - I've used this crust for everything from rhubarb pie, chicken pot pie, pocket pies, savory tarts, and fruit tarts, and it always comes out great.

For the lemon curd filling, I chose this recipe from Gourmet on Epicurious, except I increased the lemon zest to one tablespoon (instead of 2 teaspoons), for more of a lemony flavor.
I also used the recipe's meringue topping, but instead of just spreading all the meringue on top of the pie, I used a piping bag fitted with a large star tip to pipe the meringue in decorative swirls.

Once assembled, the pie went back into the oven for the meringue brown nicely.

When it came out of the oven, I was so excited to try it since I had never made one before!  And Matthew was so excited to bring it to school the next day!

Later on after the party, I asked Matthew how he liked the pie.  He said he loved it, except ... he didn't like the yellow part!!!  But, that's the "lemon" in "lemon meringue", I explained!  Alas, he thought it was too sour.  On the other hand, my husband and I both thought the filling was a perfect balance of tart, sweet, and creamy.  And especially delicious when combined with flaky crust and soft clouds of meringue!  Maybe one day when Matthew grows up, he too will learn to love the "lemon" in "lemon meringue"...