- Meringue mushrooms are one of the most fun decorations this time of year. They last for days and add the perfect touch to any woodland, nature themed deserts (like a yule log! — recipe coming soon, hopefully). To construct the mushrooms, pipe out a 1.5 inch dome, wet finger to dampen down any point left from piping. For each top, pipe out a tall cylindrical blog that will be the stem. Once cooled, coat the bottom of your dome with melted brown candy melts or chocolate. Immediately pop that dome on the stem and hold for a couple seconds to make sure it will stay. Let dry. You can then run a skewer along the cooled chocolate to make gills. Sprinkle the mushroom with some plain cocoa powder, sift some through a metal sieve or just pinch some over each mushroom. If you are “whipping” up a batch of meringue, why not also pipe out some north pole baby seals? Pipe out a blob, and then quickly add a little nub for the snout. Just dab on a cute face with royal icing after they have cooled out of the oven, and any winter scene just got even more cute! (The seals are inspired by Kim-Joy’s marshmallow seals because is there anything cuter than a seal? No, there is not. Well, maybe my dog popping his head and nose on the table to grab crumbs, especially when he ends up looking like a seal popping out of the ocean for a breath. That is cuter. But to be fair, he is an extremely cute dog. If you ever need a great cookbook for a baker in your life, Kim Joys’ are just super I also have Wicked Baker by Helena Garcia that I highly recommend.)
meringue
Ingredients
- 90 g egg whites (from about 3 large eggs)
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 180 g super fine white sugar (granulated sugar pulsed in food processor for 30 seconds or use caster sugar if you can find it)
Instructions
- whisk egg whites in stand mixer until frothy and bubble
- add in cream of tartar
- mix on medium until soft peaks form
- gently add in sugar and whisk on high until the mixture does not feel gritty in between your fingers and stiff peaks form
- scoop into piping bag and pipe out desired shape onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
- bake at 200 for 1 hour (or as low as your oven will go with door open, if it gets too hot)
- let cool on pan