Cardamom Kisses

These delicious Cardamom Kisses combine light and airy cardamom meringue and a luxurious cardamom and cream filling. Decorated with crushed pistachios for a bit of crunch, these delightful bites are loaded with texture and Indian-inspired flavours. Pick up a box of our Cardamom Chai and get baking!

Makes: 16
Preparation time: 10 minutes (plus overnight infusions)

Ingredients

For the meringue:

• 2 Tea India Cardamom tea bags
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 egg whites
• 4 cardamom pods
• Green food colouring (optional)

For the Cardamom Chai cream:

• 2 Tea India Cardamom Chai tea bags
• 150ml whipping cream
• 3 cardamom pods
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar

For decoration:

• 2 tablespoons chopped pistachio nuts

How to make

Begin this recipe the day before…

• Place 2 Tea India Cardamom Chai tea bags in a freezer bag or clean jam jar. Add the caster sugar, seal and shake well.Allow to infuse overnight.
• Place the whipping cream, 2 Tea India Cardamom Chai tea bags and 3 cardamom pods in a small pan. Bring to the boil, remove from the heat and pour into a glass bowl. Allow to cool, cover and refrigerate overnight.

To make the meringue kisses…

• Pre-heat the oven to 100°C (fan assisted)/ 120°C. Place the egg whites and one drop of green food colouring into a clean grease free bowl. Remove the cardamom seeds from 4 cardamom pods, crush using a pestle and mortar and add to the egg white. Whisk to stiff peak stage using an electric mixer. Remove the tea bags from the cardamom tea sugar and discard. Slowly add the infused cardamom tea sugar to the egg whites whisking all of the time to form a glossy meringue.
• Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Spoon the meringue mix into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe 24 rosettes of meringue onto the baking trays approximately 4 cm large. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 1 hour. Remove and allow to cool completely on the baking trays.

To make the Tea India Cardamom Chai cream …

• Remove the cardamom pods and Tea India Cardamom Chai tea bags from the infused cream. Squeeze the excess cream from the tea bags and discard. Add the icing sugar and whisk to soft peaks.

To assemble…

• Place the Tea India Cardamom Chai cream into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe a rosette of cream onto the bottom of half of 12 cooled meringue kisses. Sandwich together with the remaining meringue kisses.
• Decorate the cream edge with chopped pistachio nuts and serve immediately