Thursday 17 May 2012

Rose and Strawberry Kisses


I'm sure you've noticed that I participate in a lot of baking/blogging challenges. Sometimes I have a recipe that I want to make that fits and other times I create a recipe specifically for the challenge. This is a creation recipe for 2 challenges - one an old favourite and another a brand new challenge.

Firstly, Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co-hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked set a lovely FLORAL theme for May. As Karen's birthday is in May, she asked us to send in something with floral flavours and flowers. Happpy (belated) birthday Karen - I hope you enjoy these :) 



Secondly, a new challenge I discovered which is the Improv Challenge hosted by Kristen from Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker.  It's a  monthly party where everyone takes the same two assigned ingredients and lets their imaginations run wild.  This month the two ingredients are strawberries and cream.



So I got to thinking about what to make for each of these challenges and then came up with something that would fit both. The inspiration comes from these lemon meringue kisses I made for a friend's birthday last year. I decided to make Rose & Strawberry Kisses which is floral and contains strawberries and cream! 



Colour co-ordinated ingredients :) I found this lovely concentrated Rose culinary essence at an Asian grocery store - it is AMAZING!! I would highly recommend this over rose water (which is what you can buy at a supermarket).  The colour and flavour is intense and it tastes great! You can really smell and taste the rose. I'm so glad I found this (amongst other things)

 adding the rose essence to the meringue - love the pink colour

 looks slighly orange-y but I'm sure it's the lighting, I promise it's pink! 

 Pipe meringue 'kisses' 

 Chop up fresh strawberries

 Fold into freshly whipped cream

 Rose & Strawberry Kisses :) 


 I made a few large meringues so I could have a Royal Rose Eton Mess - crushed meringue with strawberries and cream, fresh strawberries topped with a 'strawberry crown' I won't lie... I ate the whole bowl myself (in 2 sittings) 

 view from the top 

For the meringue shells (I made a double recipe which yielded 76 stars or 38 kisses and 3 large meringues for my eton mess)

This is for a SINGLE recipe which makes ~40 stars or 20 kisses

2 egg whites
pinch of salt
150g caster sugar
2 teaspoons rose essence
optional : drop of pink food colouring

  • Preheat oven to 90C. 
  • Line 2 baking sheets with greaseproof paper. 
  • Whisk egg whites in an electric mixer until foamy.
  • Add salt and increase speed to medium-high.
  • Slowly sprinkle in the sugar.
  • Continue to beat eggs until they become thick, glossy and hold stiff peaks.
  • Add the rose essence and a drop of pink food colouring.
  • Spoon into piping bag.
  • Pipe little stars as shown using a star tip onto the baking sheets. 
  • Using the back of a spoon, flatten out half of the stars, making them as flat as possible (for the bottom) but not necessarily making them larger. 
  • Bake for 2 hours until they are no longer sticky. 
  • Store in an airtight container.
For the filling
  • Finely chop a bowl of fresh strawberries that have been washed and hulled.
  • Whip a carton of whipping cream or double cream until firm.
  • Stir the strawberries into the cream.


To assemble
  • Place 1 teaspoon of strawberries & cream filling on a 'flat' star and top with another similar sized star. 
  • Serve immediately if possible.

55 comments:

  1. Oh how pretty these look, I bet they tasted lovely. I've made rose meringues a few times by blitzing fresh rose petals and whisking those into the egg white, but they don't come out as pretty a colour as yours. I think we've all gone for rose this month - it is such a lovely flavour.

    Have you seen newest challenge on my blog now? Best of British - there are prizes!

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    1. Thanks they did taste amazing :) You can really taste the rose flavour and it paired well with the strawberries and cream! Will be checking out your new challenge asap!

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  2. These are wonderful - your piping skills are very good!

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    1. Thanks! I think they need more practice :)

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  3. Royal Rose Eton Mess! Fit to serve at the wedding for the prince & princess, I'm sure!

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    1. I hope so! For now I can feel like royalty eating it ha ha :)

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  4. Those turned out so delicate and pretty. What a great thing to add to our improv party!!

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    1. Thanks and thanks for hosting a great improv party :)

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  5. What a fantastic dessert, gorgeous presentation!

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  6. Looks gorgeous Ros, love the strawberries in the filling! :)

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    1. Thanks! I was really pleased with how they turned out :)

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  7. I LOVE these!!! Gorgeous! x

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    1. Thanks! They really are cute, aren't they? :)

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  8. What a FABULOUS entry for Tea Time Treats, I LOVE these little rose kisses Ros - they are SO pretty! Thanks for entering these into May's Floral challenge and pack me a few up before I go! Karen

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    1. So glad you like these Karen - just for your birthday month :) Will send you a few virtual ones!

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  9. What lovely little rose kisses... that concentrated rose essence does look amazing...I want some!!! I'd love to try one of these!!

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    1. Seriously don't buy rose water from the supermarket anymore, get this concentrated rose essence - it looks, smells and tastes good!!

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  10. Oh lovely. I recognise that dish of Eton Mess lol!

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    1. lol it was my saviour in the day of kitchen disasters :)

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  11. Wow these look so cute, I would like one please!!

    Nom! x

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    1. Thanks, you may want more than one as they are quite addictive :)

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  12. Besides being so darn cute, these gems look delish!!!!

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  13. Mmm, everything looks yummy. And your rose essence sounds really intriguing. I will have to keep my eyes open for that.

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    1. Highly recommend the rose essence - so much better than the rose water I had previously bought.

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  14. These are beautiful! I will be out looking for the rose culinary essence tomorrow.

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    1. Thanks! I hope you find the rose culinary essence - it's really good and I love it!

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  15. Your kisses look delicious! These would be the perfect way to eat strawberries and cream come Wimbledon season :-)

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    1. Definitely making these again and again :)

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  16. Oh wow these are so pretty, I love the idea of the strawberry and cream filling - sounds so yum, and I'm intrigued to hear what the other things were that you found in the asian grocery store!

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    1. Thanks - the strawberries and cream went really well with the rose meringues. I found lots of lovely things in the asian grocery store - will be posting about one of them soon.

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  17. Yum! I so love meringue! and the strawberries and cream filling is a great idea, I'm also intrigued to hear what you're other great finds were in the Asian grocery store!

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  18. These meringues look SO gorgeous! I'd happily sit with a cup of tea and munch on these all afternoon :D

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    1. Thanks! I could eat quite a few of these myself :)

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  19. Wow! These look absolutely fabulous! Lovely tea time treat indeed! Well done Ros! :)

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  20. Your meringues look perfect!

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  21. So cute BA - and I'm so happy because I've finally ordered myself a piping bag!!! I can't wait until I can start making things like this :D

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    1. Thanks! These are much easier to make than macarons and they look really cute.

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  22. Wow - so unique and so so pretty. What a clever idea - these would be great for a bridal or baby shower.

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    1. Thanks! I'll remember that next time I'm invited to a bridal or baby shower - they could be made blue with blueberries!

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  23. Beautiful piping!! And I love rose with strawberries. They're in the same family and complement each other soooo well. Really a beautiful approach to this month's challenge!

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    1. Thanks! I'm getting there with my piping skills :) You're right - rose and strawberries work really well together :)

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  24. Great minds think alike!! Lovley post.

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  25. they look great, very light and tasty

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  26. these are absolutely gorgeous, but I'm going have to make the lemon ones first - lemon is my favourite.

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    1. The lemon ones were really, really good - highly recommend them :)

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  27. These are perfection! You must have been sending me telepathic signals to make something similar. I hope you didn't mind. Thanks for stopping by at mine too.

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  28. How funny! I just made some rose and strawberry meringues and then came across this on your picnic entry! They look gorgeous though! Love the use of fresh strawberries and cream! I used freeze dried strawberries in mine.

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    1. Great minds think alike :) Ooh I'll have to try using freeze dried strawberries next time as I've only just discovered them. Rose and strawberry work really well together :)

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