Meringue Christmas trees recipe

This standout holiday cookie pairs crisp, sweet meringue with milk chocolate kisses and an assortment of colorful, festive decorations for a showstopping treat that resembles a miniature trimmed Christmas tree. We whipped egg whites to stiff peaks, as we would for standard meringues, and then incorporated green food coloring before piping the glossy mixture onto baking sheets using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. On top of that star we piped two smaller stars for an easy and foolproof way to shape the trees no advanced piping degrees required. To trim the tree with colorful “lights” and “ornaments,” we chose multicolor nonpareils and yellow sugar stars, but you can decorate however you like. To finish, we cut a small hole in the bottom of each tree and snuggly affixed a Hershey’s Kiss (with the help of some melted chocolate) to serve as the trunk of our tree, so these cookies stand tall. You’ll need a 12-ounce bag of Hershey’s Kisses for this recipe (you’ll have a few left over). If baking on a humid day, let the meringues cool in a turned-off oven for an additional hour without opening the door and then immediately seal them in an airtight container. We used 9 drops of food coloring; for a lighter or darker green, use 8 or 10 drops.