Authentic French Meringues Food

AUTHENTIC FRENCH MERINGUES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C). Butter and flour a baking sheet.
• In a glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites until foamy using an electric mixer. Sprinkle in sugar a little at a time, while continuing to whip at medium speed. When the mixture becomes stiff and shiny like satin, stop mixing, and transfer the mixture to a large pastry bag. Pipe the meringue out onto the prepared baking sheet using a large round tip or star tip.
• Place the meringues in the oven and place a wooden spoon handle in the door to keep it from closing all the way. Bake for 3 hours, or until the meringues are dry, and can easily be removed from the pan. Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container at room temperature.

FRENCH MERINGUE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a mixer, begin to whip the egg whites with cream of tartar, if using.. Slowly add the sugar. Whip the whites until stiff peaks.
• Combine flour and confectioners' sugar (and nut powder if using), then fold into whites.
• Load batter into pastry bag (use open star or any desired shape IF NOT using nut powder otherwise use no tip), and pipe quarter size meringues onto grease free parchment paper. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes until browned. Remove and cool before use.
• Pipe buttercream from cake assembly into some of the meringues for a surprise.
• Apply meringues to the cake after applying a heavy crumb coat. Cover completely. Put fresh berries or dollops of cooled, piped chocolate ganache between any gaps of the meringues.

BASIC FRENCH MERINGUE

Steps:

• Whisk whites, salt, and cream of tartar with a mixer on medium-low speed until foamy. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking until sugar dissolves and soft peaks form. Gradually increase speed to medium-high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, 8 to 10 minutes. Use immediately.

FRENCH MERINGUE & MERINGUE MUSHROOM

Steps:

• In a large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed, beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed until soft peaks form. Start adding the sugar slowly. Beat until glossy stiff peaks form.
• Place the meringue in a piping bag or large zip-lock bag and push the mixture toward one corner, folding the other corner over, then twisting, allowing you to control the meringue. Cut off just the very tip of the exposed corner so the meringue can exit the bag. Then try it out by dotting four small beads of meringue at the corners of a cookie sheet. Set a sheet of parchment paper over the top; the meringue beads will provide a bond to hold the paper in place.
• Make the mushroom caps by holding the bag over the parchment paper and push until a 1-inch mound of meringue forms. Wet the tip of your finger with water and gently round off any peaks to make a smooth surface.
• For mushroom stems, form peaks on smaller mounds of meringue by pulling the bag up and away from the surface as you push.
• Bake them in a 200° oven for an hour, and then turn oven temperature down to 175 and leave them until they're completely dry to the touch.
• Optional:.
• Melt the chocolate chips in a glass microwave-safe dish in the microwave for about one minute or until melted. Once cool, you can coat the bottom of the mushroom caps with dark chocolate, let them set, and then coat them again with white chocolate. Once the white chocolate is set, you can scratch in the mushroom gills using a toothpick, and attach the stem using a little more white chocolate.
• Or, if not coating the bottom of the mushroom caps, make a hole smaller than a pea in the bottom of a mushroom cap with a toothpick or skewer. Dip the tip of the stem in the melted chocolate and press into the hole in the cap. Allow the chocolate "glue" to harden (it only takes a minute). Place the mushroom upright on its stem and dust the cap lightly with cocoa powder.