How to Make Meringue Mushrooms

meringue mushrooms are a classic component of a Bûche de Nöel cake, and so fun to make!

These adorable meringue mushroom ‘cookies’ are surprisingly easy to make. You don’t need special skills or fancy equipment. They look perfect on a yule log cake for Christmas, but are just as cute packaged up in a little basket to give as a homemade gift from your kitchen. They’re crisp on the outside, with a soft chewy center, just like a macaron cookie.

whip up a batch of meringue to form the base of these cute mushroom cookies

Whipped meringue is an incredibly silky sweet ~ and stable ~ confection that can be spooned onto the top of a pie, spread out into disks for pavlova, or piped into macaron cookies. Once you’ve made meringue, you’ll be hooked once you realize how easy it is and how many possibilities there are for flavoring it and making all kinds of confections.

classic meringue requires just four simple ingredients:

• egg whites
• sugar
• cream of tartar
• vanilla or almond extract (optional)

the equipment I use for simple meringue cookies

• You’ll need a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to beat the meringue to stiff glossy peaks.
• And a piping bag with a large tip to form the mushrooms.
• In a pinch you can use a baggie with the corner snipped off.

constructing these cookies is easier than it looks

1. Start by piping the mushroom ‘stems’

The fun here is that there are no hard and fast rules. Your stems can be fat or thin, straight or bent. The more variation, the more natural your mushrooms will look, so don’t be too fussy about it. I tried to make several different sizes. The only caveat is that you don’t want your stems so thin or so tall that they flop over. You want them to stand up…more or less 😉

When you pipe with meringue you’ll tend to get pointy little tips at the top, but don’t worry, those natural points on the tip of your ‘stems’ will help when you construct your mushrooms later.

2. Pipe round caps for your meringue mushrooms

In this case we don’t want a point, we want a smooth mound for the mushroom tops, so after piping, take a damp finger and smooth the surface of your mushroom caps. Again, don’t worry about being too precise, the caps will puff up a bit in the oven and look just perfect.

Make a variety of sizes for the most natural effect in your finished meringue mushrooms.

3. bake the separate components of these cookies

You’re basically going to be drying out the meringue in a low oven, so bake the trays in a 250F oven for 90 minutes. The pieces should remove easily from the parchment when they are done and will feel light and dry.

4. Finally, assemble the mushroom cookies with melted chocolate

Once cooked and cooled, I’ll take the point of a small sharp knife to gently carve out a small hole in the bottom of each mushroom cap. This is easy because the meringues are soft. A little melted chocolate will ‘glue’ the stem to the cap. Just insert the point of the stem into the hole you’ve made.

Once assembled allow the chocolate to harden (it’s best to keep the mushrooms upside-down until the chocolate has hardened so it doesn’t drip down the stem) and then you’ve got some very cute, very sturdy little cookies.

extra tips and tricks for meringue mushrooms that look like they were just plucked from a woodland!

• Remember that they don’t need to be all perfectly straight and uniform, if some of your stems are a little wonky that will only make them look more natural.
• If you like you can spread a little of the chocolate out across the bottom of the cap to resemble the darker gills on the underside of a mushroom.
• Dust the tops with a little sifted cocoa powder for the finishing touch.

how to serve meringue mushrooms

• Serve the mushrooms in a little basket or on a plate with after dinner coffee
• Use them to decorate another dessert, like a Bûche de Noël.
• Or package them up to give as a gift ~ perfect for the holidays, and gluten free friends.