French Meringue Meringue Mushroom 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.

MERINGUE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F (110 degrees C). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
• In a large glass or metal bowl, use an electric mixer to whip egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla. Continue whipping until the whites hold soft peaks. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar so that it does not sink to the bottom, and continue whipping until the mixture holds stiff shiny peaks.
• Place a round tip into a pastry bag, and fill the bag half way with the meringue. To pipe the mushroom caps, squeeze out round mounds of meringue onto one of the prepared cookie sheets. Pull the bag off to the side to avoid making peaks on the top. For the stems, press out a tiny bit of meringue onto the other sheet, then pull the bag straight up. They should resemble candy kisses. Do not worry about making all of the pieces exactly the same. The mushrooms will look more natural if the pieces are different sizes. Dust the mushroom caps lightly with cocoa using a small sifter or strainer.
• Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the caps are dry enough to easily remove from the cookie sheets. Set aside to cool completely. Melt the coating chocolate in a metal bowl over simmering water, or in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth.
• Poke a small hole in the bottom of a mushroom cap. Spread chocolate over the bottom of the cap. Dip the tip of a stem in chocolate, and press lightly into the hole. When the chocolate sets, they will hold together. Repeat with remaining pieces. Store at room temperature in a dry place or tin.

MERINGUE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Combine egg whites with cream of tartar in bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in sugar, beating at high speed until mixture is very stiff and dull looking.
• Scrape meringue mixture into pastry bag. Pipe round, button shapes to make mushroom "caps". Pipe pointed "kiss" shapes about one inch tall to make "stems". Dust with cocoa. Bake two hours in 200 degree oven until crisp and completely dry. Assemble the mushrooms: Place chocolate in a small bowl. Set bowl in a skillet of barely simmering water. Immediately turn off heat and stir chocolate until melted and smooth. Spread a little melted chocolate on the flat side of each meringue mushroom "cap". Use a sharp knife to cut off and discard the pointed ends of meringue "stems". Attach stems to caps while chocolate is still soft. Set assembled mushrooms aside until the chocolate has dried and caps and stems are "glued" together. Meringue mushrooms may be made 3-4 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container.

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.

MERINGUE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• In a large heatproof bowl, whisk the egg whites, cream of tartar, and sugar together until all of the sugar is moistened. Whisking constantly, set the bowl on direct heat or in a pan of simmering water, until the egg whites are warm to the touch. Remove from the heat and beat at high speed until mixture is very stiff and dull looking.
• Scrape meringue mixture into pastry bag. Pipe round, button shapes to make mushroom "caps". Pipe pointed "kiss" shapes about one inch tall to make "stems". Dust with cocoa. Bake two hours in a 200 degree oven until crisp and completely dry.
• Assemble the mushrooms: Place chocolate in a small bowl. Set bowl in a saucepan of barely simmering water. Immediately turn off heat and stir chocolate until melted and smooth.
• Spread a little melted chocolate on the flat side of each meringue mushroom "cap". Use a sharp knife to cut off and discard the pointed ends of meringue "stems". Attach stems to caps while chocolate is still soft. Set assembles mushrooms aside until the chocolate has dried and caps and stems are "glued" together. (Meringue mushrooms may be made 3 to 4 weeks in advance and stored in an airtight container.)

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.

ULTIMATE MERINGUE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 110C/ 100C fan/gas ¼.
• Line 2 baking sheets with non-stick liner or parchment paper (meringue can stick on greaseproof paper and foil).
• Tip 4 large egg whites into a large clean mixing bowl (not plastic). Beat them on medium speed with an electric hand whisk until the mixture resembles a fluffy cloud and stands up in stiff peaks when the blades are lifted.
• Now turn the speed up and start to add 115g caster sugar, a dessertspoonful at a time. Continue beating for 3-4 seconds between each addition. It's important to add the sugar slowly at this stage as it helps prevent the meringue from weeping later. However, don't over-beat. When ready, the mixture should be thick and glossy.
• Sift one third of the 115g icing sugar over the mixture, then gently fold it in with a big metal spoon or rubber spatula. Continue to sift and fold in the remaining icing sugar a third at a time. Again, don't over-mix. The mixture should now look smooth and billowy.
• Scoop up a heaped dessertspoonful of the mixture. Using another dessertspoon, ease it on to the baking sheet to make an oval shape. Or just drop them in rough rounds, if you prefer.
• Bake for 1 ½-1 ¾ hours in a fan oven, 1 ¼ hours in a conventional or gas oven, until the meringues sound crisp when tapped underneath and are a pale coffee colour.
• Leave to cool on the trays or a cooling rack. (The meringues will now keep in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for a month.) Serve two meringues sandwiched together with a generous dollop of softly whipped double cream.

MERINGUE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Cover 2 cookie sheets with baking parchment paper, anchoring, if necessary with a dab of the meringue when it's ready.
• Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in small mixer bowl (I use my big Kitchen Aid bowl) until foamy.
• Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff and glossy, about 5 minutes. Do not underbeat.
• Heat oven to 225 degrees.
• Fit decorators' tube or pastry bag with plain tip with 1/4" opening.
• Fill bag with meringue and fold top of bag to close. Anchor the paper to the cookie sheets with a couple dabs of meringue. Hold upright and pipe out about 55 mushroom caps, each 1 to 1-1/4 inches in diameter.
• Sift cocoa over caps.
• Now, this is important: Stick your forefinger in sugar and gently pat down the peak that's sticking up on all those caps! Bake until firm, 45-50 minutes.
• Remove from oven and immediately turn caps upside down and make an indentation in bottom of each cap. (I use a wood skewer or small knife tip to poke/carve a bit of a hole.)
• Brush excess cocoa from caps with a soft-bristled brush.
• Pipe about fifty-five 3/4" upright stems on second cookie sheet. They should have peaks which will fit into mushroom caps.
• Bake until firm 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven; cool.
• To assemble the mushrooms, pipe a small amount of frosting into the indentation of each mushroom cap; insert stem and stand to dry.
• Store mushrooms uncovered or loosely covered at room temperature. They'll keep a week or so.
• Use the mushrooms to decorate a yule log cake. Extra mushrooms can be packaged in -- a mushroom carton -- for a special treat.

MERINGUE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Fill a medium saucepan 1/4 full with water.
• Set over medium heat; bring water to a simmer.
• Combine egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer and place over saucepan.
• Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, about 3 minutes.
• Rub the mixture between fingers to test.
• Transfer bowl to mixer stand, and whip, starting on low speed and gradually increasing to high, until meringue is cool and stiff glossy peaks form, about 10 minutes.
• Add vanilla; mix until combined.
• Use immediately.
• Place Meringue in an 18-inch pastry bag fitted with a large 3/4 inch round tip.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Pipe meringue, forming domes 1 to 2 inches in diameter.
• Pipe a stem shape for each dome.
• Place baking sheets in oven for 1 hour, reduce heat to 175 degrees F and continue baking until meringues are completely dry to the touch, but not browned, 45 to 60 minutes more.
• Fill a medium saucepan 1/4 full with water.
• Set over medium heat, and bring water to a simmer.
• Place bittersweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl, and set over simmering water.
• Turn off heat; stir occasionally until completely melted.
• Using an offset spatula, spread bottoms of domed meringues with chocolate; let sit at room temperature.
• Place white chocolate in a heatproof bowl, and set over simmering water.
• Turn off heat; stir occasionally until completely melted.
• Allow to cool slightly.
• Spread white chocolate over dark chocolate; use a toothpick to create lines from the center of the cap to the edges.
• Let set in a cool, dry place.
• Poke a small hole in the center of each mushroom cap using a paring knife.
• Dip the pointed end of each of the mushroom stems in melted white chocolate, and insert into hole in center of cap.
• Allow to set.
• Meringue mushrooms should be kept in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.