Meringue Mushrooms
These little meringue cookies look just like woodland mushrooms! Use them to decorate a traditional yule log cake, or enjoy them on their own.
Servings: 16 cookies
Equipment
- Piping bags
- large plain piping tip (I used Wilton 1A)
- stand mixer or hand mixer
Ingredients
meringue
- 2 egg whites, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 tsp cream of tartar, (for stability)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, (optional) or almond extract
assembly
- 2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
- cocoa powder, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 250F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the (clean and grease free) bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and the cream of tartar until they start to get foamy.
- Then, with the mixer running on medium-high speed, slowly add the sugar, about a spoonful at a time, allowing each spoonful to get mixed in for 30 seconds or so before adding more.
- Continue whipping on high speed until the meringue is glossy and stiff peaks form (about 5-7 minutes)
- Scoop the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a large, plain piping tip. I used a Wilton 1A tip.
- Pipe "stems" by slowly lifting up the piping tip and releasing so that you have a short cylinder, pointy tips are ok.
- Pipe "mushroom caps" by piping small circles and gently flattening down any tips that form with your finger.
- Bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes. The meringues should release from the paper easily and be firm to the touch. Allow to cool before assembling.
- To assemble the mushrooms, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave using short bursts. Stir until smooth.
- With a small knife, gently carve a small hole into the underside of the meringue mushroom caps, being careful not to poke all the way through the caps.
- Place a little bit of melted chocolate in the hole on the underside of the mushroom caps, and gently spread a little more chocolate over the whole flat underside of the mushroom caps, if desired. Insert the stems into the little holes to create your mushrooms.
- Set the finished cookies upside-down until the chocolate has hardened.
- Finally, lightly dust the mushroom caps with a little bit of cocoa powder.
- Serve on a plate with tea or after dinner coffee, or carefully place in a basket for gift giving. Be careful, the cookies are fragile.
Notes
A large plain piping tip is perfect for this project. You can find the one I used, a Wilton 1A, in craft and cooking stores, or online, here. This is a versatile tip to have in your baking arsenal.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 cookie · Calories: 48 kcal · Carbohydrates: 8 g · Protein: 1 g · Fat: 2 g · Saturated Fat: 1 g · Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.04 g · Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5 g · Trans Fat: 0.001 g · Cholesterol: 0.1 mg · Sodium: 7 mg · Potassium: 36 mg · Fiber: 0.4 g · Sugar: 7 g · Vitamin A: 1 IU · Calcium: 3 mg · Iron: 0.4 mg
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
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