Kim-Joy's Piping Bag Tip For Her Adorable 'Meowringues'

Fans who know everything there is to know about "The Great British Bake Off" will remember the always-colorful Kim-Joy, a contestant who went on to carve out a niche for herself in the baking world by penning several cookbooks containing recipes with whimsical touches and cartoon-worthy animals as well as a bakery-themed board game. She documents many of her creations on her TikTok account, kimjoyskitchen, offering her fans advice on making their own show-stopping treats — and, in a recent video, she shared a tip for piping "meowringue" cookies that just might help you in your own baking adventures.

She explains that she prefers using two separate piping bags with different-sized tips to get the look she wants in her baked goods. The larger tip is ideal for elements such as the bodies and heads of tiny confectionary creatures, while the smaller tip is perfect for piping ears and tails, where a bit more precision is required.

Kim-Joy uses the same color of meringue batter in both of her piping bags, creating a base that she can then embellish, but you could also use this trick to separate different colors if your creation will have various hues. If juggling multiple piping bags sounds too burdensome, you may also want to consider buying a coupler: a very inexpensive tool that attaches to your piping bags and allows you to easily swap out the tips on the same bag.

If you find yourself inspired by Kim-Joy and crafting adorable treats with detailed embellishments, there are a few other things to consider for best results. In addition to the tip size, you also want to keep the size of your piping bags in mind. When handling the more precise piping with a smaller tip (as Kim-Joy recommends), you may also want to select a smaller piping bag that should give you a bit more control; just be careful not to overfill it. 

@kimjoyskitchen

Recipe and tips below 👇 I like to use one piping bag with a bigger hole for the main body and head, and one with a smaller hole for limbs, ears and tail. You can use a damp finger to press down any peaks you don't want. Just weigh your egg whites, then add in double the amount of icing sugar. Eg 120g egg white, 240g icing sugar. For an extra sturdy meringue – put it in a pan suspended over a bigger pan of simmering water (ban marie) and whisk for ten minutes. Then take off the heat and whisk up to stiff peaks. It still works if you skip the ban marie bit (I skipped it here cause I was just doing a small amount) but your meringue will just be a bit less sturdy! I use icing sugar rather than caster/granulated for these because it seems to work a lot better for character meringues – way more crack resistant! I still got a little crack (but it's cute) – and that's just cause I didn't do the ban marie method Recipe is from my book of ALL cat themed bakes – Bake Me a Cat 📕🐈🍰 #meringuecookies #meringue #cutefood #cats

♬ a town with an ocean view (kiki's delivery service lofi) – luvbyrd

Although the exact type you choose is up to you (disposable is often more convenient, but if you're doing a lot of baking, you may want to invest in reusable piping bags), make sure you haven't selected bags with pre-cut tips. You want a blank canvas that you can cut to your exact specifications. For ease, consider putting the tip in the bag and then snipping the bottom so it fits the tip you've selected perfectly.

Even with all of the right tools, you still need a certain amount of technique to get "The Great British Bake Off"-caliber results. The most important thing to keep in mind when piping is pressure. Use both hands to hold the piping bag, with one hand guiding and the other doing the squeezing, exerting an even amount of pressure.