Cocoa Meringue Mushrooms Recipes

EASY MERINGUE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees. 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 your fingers to test.
• Transfer bowl to mixer stand fitted with the whisk attachment, and whip, starting on low speed and gradually increasing to high, until meringue is cool, and stiff glossy peaks form. Add vanilla; mix until combined. Use immediately.
• Place in a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Pipe meringue, forming mushroom caps 1/2 inch in diameter. Pipe a stem shape for each cap. Place baking sheets in oven until meringue is dry in center, 1 to 2 hours.
• Poke a small hole in the center of each cap using a paring knife. Insert the pointed end of each stem into hole in the cap, forming mushrooms. Meringue mushrooms should be kept in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Just before using, dust lightly with cocoa powder.

HOT COCOA MERINGUES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 275°F. Place oven racks in upper and lower third of oven. Line 2 large cookie sheets with cooking parchment paper.
• In large bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla with electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form and sugar is almost dissolved, 5 to 6 minutes, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Do not underbeat.
• In small bowl, place 2 cups of the meringue. Sprinkle cocoa through fine mesh strainer over top; fold cocoa into mixture. Place large piping bag fitted with large star piping tip on its side. Using large icing spatula, spoon half of white meringue so it covers one half of the length of inside of piping bag. Carefully spoon half of the cocoa meringue on top of the white in bag. On cookie sheet, pipe into 2-inch circles. Repeat filling piping bag and piping with remaining meringues.
• Place both cookie sheets in oven. Bake 30 minutes. Turn off oven; leave meringues in oven with door closed 1 hour. Remove from oven, and place pans on cooling racks; continue to cool at room temperature, about 2 hours. Remove from parchment paper; place on cooling racks.
• Place waxed paper or cooking parchment paper under cooling racks. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds, stirring halfway through, until chips can be stirred smooth. Spoon into resealable food-storage plastic bag; partially seal bag. Cut small tip from corner of bag; drizzle chocolate over tops of cookies. Sprinkle mallow bits on tops of cookies. Let stand 1 hour 30 minutes or until chocolate is set. Store covered in airtight container in single layer.

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.

GRANDMA'S COCOA MERINGUE PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
• In a large saucepan or double boiler combine flour, cocoa powder, 1 cup of sugar, and salt. Mix well, then stir in milk and egg yolks. Whisk until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Pour mixture into baked pie shell.
• In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Spread meringue over pie, covering completely.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until top is lightly browned. Remove and allow to cool before serving.

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.

COCOA MERINGUE MUSHROOMS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Divide meringue among three small bowls. Set one aside. Fold 1 tablespoon cocoa into the second portion, and 2 tablespoons cocoa into the third portion. Place each portion in an 18-inch pastry bag fitted with a large round 1/2-inch tip. Pipe domes, 1/2 inch to 2 inches in diameter, onto prepared baking sheets, and flatten the tips with a damp forefinger. Pipe stems onto baking sheets, making one to go with each "cap."
• Bake the meringue shapes in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, rotating baking sheets halfway through, 1 hour; reduce oven temperature to 175 degrees. Continue baking until completely dry to the touch but not browned, 45 to 60 minutes.
• Melt bittersweet chocolate in a small heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Using a small offset spatula, spread bottoms of caps with a thin layer of dark chocolate, and let set. Melt white chocolate in another heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Let cool until thickened, and spread over dark chocolate. Use a toothpick to draw lines through the chocolate from the center to edge of caps; let set.
• Using a paring knife, make a small hole in center of each coated cap. Dip one end of each stem in remaining white chocolate, and insert into a hole; let set.

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.)

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.