Meringue Mushrooms Recipe
Makes approximately 3 dozen small and large mushrooms
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted
- Preheat oven to 225° F.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the whites on medium speed just until foamy, about 30 seconds.
- Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium-high until the whites have a soft shape.
- Slowly add the 1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat for several seconds between each addition.
- Add the vanilla extract and increase speed to the highest. Beat for approximately 7 minutes or until meringue becomes quite stiff and sugar has dissolved.
- Please a large plain pastry tip into a large pastry bag for large mushrooms. Place a smaller plain tip inside another pastry bag for smaller mushrooms.
- Pipe the same number of large and small mushroom caps and an equal number of large and small mushroom stems onto 2-3 parchment-lined sheet pans. Each stem should have its own corresponding cap. Pipe the caps and stems approximately 1 inch apart.
- Using a sieve, dust mushroom stems and caps with cocoa.
- Bake for 2 hours. Mushrooms should not have any color to them.
- Turn oven heat off and prop oven open and leave mushrooms in oven for another hour.
- Cool completely.
- Using a small, sharp knife, make a hole in the underside of each mushroom cap. Using a small offset spatula, cover the underside and the hole with melted chocolate. Stick cap gently into stem and allow to dry on a sheet pan.
- Continue joining caps and stems with chocolate.
- Allow to dry and store in an airtight container at room temperature.