Ghastly Meringues Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Place the egg whites and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or use a hand mixer); beat on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium high; beat in the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, then add the extract or zest. Continue beating until the meringue is thick, glossy and holds stiff peaks, about 6 minutes.
• For colored cookies, swirl a few drops of food coloring into the meringue or use a small paintbrush to paint 3 long stripes of food coloring up the inside of a pastry bag. For chocolate chip versions, gently fold the mini chocolate chips into the mixture.
• Drop or pipe the meringue as desired, about 2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let the meringues stand in the oven until dry, about 2 hours. Top with or dip in melted chocolate and sprinkle with nonpareils.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium high. Beat in the granulated sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, adding a couple drops of black food coloring with the final tablespoon of sugar to tint the mixture light gray. Beat in the vanilla if using. Continue beating until the meringue is thick and glossy and holds stiff peaks, 6 minutes more.
• Spray a 3-tablespoon (#20) cookie scoop with nonstick spray and scoop balls of the meringue onto the prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Lightly dust the tops with cocoa powder--you should see meringue underneath.
• Bake the meringues until set, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven, turn off the oven and keep the oven door closed. Let the meringues sit until cool enough to handle, about 5 minutes. Then, hollow them out this way: Hold a meringue flat-side up in one hand. With the edge of a metal teaspoon, gently carve a hole in the center of the meringue's base, leaving some lip around the opening. Press your thumb into the hole and push the inside of the meringue up against the walls to hollow out the interior (see Cook's Note).
• Return the meringues to the baking sheet and place them in the turned-off oven until completely dried out, at least 3 hours and up to 8 hours.
• With a wooden spoon, smash the rock candy sticks in their bags to break the sugar off the sticks and into smaller crystals. Pour the crystals into small bowls separated by color.
• Place the white candy melting wafers in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until melted.
• Use a pastry brush to paint a circle of melted wafers (about the size of a quarter) on the bottom of a meringue cavity. Immediately fill the cavity with dark-colored rock candy. Wait a few seconds, then pour the excess rock candy back into its bowl. Paint the rest of the cavity with melted wafers. Immediately fill the cavity with light-colored rock candy. Wait a few seconds before pouring out the excess. Repeat with the remaining meringues, wafers and rock candy.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
• Strain the chickpeas directly into the bowl of a stand mixer. There should be about 3/4 cup liquid; reserve the chickpeas for another use. Add the cream of tartar and a pinch of salt to the liquid, and beat on medium-high speed until very foamy. While still beating, add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, then continue to beat until the mixture forms stiff and glossy peaks, about 4 minutes.
• Transfer the mixture to a large pastry bag fitted with a large star or round tip, and pipe 2-inch mounds about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the meringues are set and no longer glossy, about 2 hours, rotating the trays (from top to bottom) halfway through. Turn the oven off, and let the meringues sit in the closed oven until they have dried out inside, about 1 hour more. (The meringues will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 250˚ F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat the egg whites and salt in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and increase the speed to medium high; beat in the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat in the vanilla. Continue beating until the meringue is thick, glossy and holds stiff peaks, about 6 more minutes.
• Transfer the meringue to a large piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe into spiral cone shapes, 2 inches in diameter and 3 inches tall, about 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Decorate each meringue with a candy eyeball. Dust with the matcha.
• Transfer the meringues to the oven and bake 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let the meringues stand in the oven until dry, about 3 hours or overnight.

Steps:

• For Meringues: Preheat oven to 225 degrees F.
• Grease and flour cookie sheet. Ready 3 piping bags with 1/2-inch nozzle. Whisk egg whites until stiff and peaked. Add good pinch salt and water and continue to whisk. When whisk begins to leave a trail through meringue, gradually add in sugar, folding in last bit with a metal spoon. Meringue should be very stiff and glossy. Place 1/3 mixture into 1 piping bag. Pipe in very small, even round shapes on cookie sheet to make a total of about 10 mini meringues. Mix another 1/3 of meringue with food coloring and pipe second round of meringues in same manner as first. Add cocoa to remaining meringue and repeat piping as before. Place in oven for 2 hours. Remove from oven and chip a small hole in bottom of meringues just big enough to fit small pastry tip. Cool on wire rack. If making meringues a day ahead, store in airtight container.
• For Creme Patisserie: In small pot, combine vanilla and milk and heat to just before boiling. Place yolks in large bowl. Add sugar and beat briskly until light and creamy. Gently stir in flour, a little at a time. Gradually add heated milk to yolks and combine well. Pour into non-stick pan and cook gently over low heat stirring constantly, then set aside and cool for 2 hours. The cream will continue to thicken as it cools. When cooled, divide custard into 3 bowls and flavor each with a different liqueur.
• To serve, place ice cream on chilled serving dish. With a small tipped pastry bag, pipe the coffee cream into the chocolate meringues. Pipe the cherry cream into the plain meringues. Finally, pipe the orange cream into the pink ones. Arrange meringues over top and sides of ice cream.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment and set up a piping bag with a medium-size star nozzle.
• In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until very stiff - the whites should stand in stiff, not floppy, peaks when the beaters are lifted out. Once you have reached this point, pour in roughly half the sugar and the vanilla extract and whisk again until the mixture becomes very thick, firm and shiny. Add the remaining sugar and whisk again until thick, firm and shiny. If you like meringues with soft, mallowy centres, just add 1 tsp cornflour and 1 tsp white wine vinegar to the mix along with the sugar.
• Carefully spoon the meringue into the piping bag. Push any air out of the top and tightly twist the end of the piping bag to seal. Gently squeeze until meringue is visible at the end of the nozzle, then begin piping onto your lined baking sheets. Pipe spiralling circles, about 6cm wide and 3 layers high - like you would ice a cupcake to make roughly 18. The meringues will spread slightly as they cook, so leave enough space between each one. Bake in the oven for 1 hr, turning the heat down to 120C/100C fan/gas ½ after 30 mins.
• Remove from the oven - they should peel easily away from the parchment - and cool on a wire rack. Can be made up to a week ahead and kept in an airtight container, or frozen for up to 3 months, between layers of parchment, in an airtight container.
• To make Cream & chocolate meringues for dessert, put 100g dark chocolate in a glass bowl and melt over a pan of gently simmering water. Carefully dip the base of each meringue in to coat, then place on their sides on a plate or tray to set. While the chocolate sets, whip 300ml double cream. Assemble the meringues in pairs and sandwich their chocolate bases together with a good spoonful of cream. Delicious served with ice cream, raspberry coulis or fresh berries.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the sugar in a small roasting tray lined with baking parchment. Shake to level out the sugar and heat in the oven for about 5 mins until hot but not melting. This helps stabilise the egg whites and give a smooth and glossy meringue.
• Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar using an electric mixer. Whisk slowly at first, gradually increasing the speed until the egg whites are at the stiff peak stage, about 5 mins. It's important not to over-whisk the egg whites. Remove the sugar from the oven as soon as the eggs whites are stiff.
• Reduce the oven to 110C/90C fan/gas ¼, leaving the door ajar to help it cool down quickly - the meringues need to be baked at a lower temperature.
• Turn the mixer up to full speed and start adding the sugar, one tablespoon at a time. You want the egg whites to maintain their volume as you keep adding sugar - if you see it starting to collapse, stop adding sugar and allow the mixture to stiffen and rise before adding the rest, a spoonful at a time.
• Once all the sugar has been added, keep whisking until you have a stiff and glossy mixture. It's ready to use when it holds its shape, usually about 2-5 mins after you add the last of the sugar. You should also be able to see peaks in the mixture when you remove and upturn the whisk.
• Add the pumpkin spice flavouring to your meringue if using, and gently fold it through the mixture. Do this by hand rather than in the mixer.
• Spoon your flavoured meringue into piping bags - one batch should fill two bags - shaking the mixture down to the bottom of the bag. Try to get rid of any big air bubbles you can see at this stage, but don't be too rough with the mixture.
• Cut parchment to the size of your baking trays. Cut off the bottom inch of the piping bag (about a 50p sized hole) and squeeze small dollops on to the corner of your baking trays to stick the parchment down.
• Hold the piping bag with both hands, placing one hand at the top of the bag and your other hand halfway down the bag. Hold the bag steady, about 2cm above the tray, and squeeze the bag from the top to start forming the body of your ghost. Keep the bag completely still while squeezing, using your lower hand to keep the bag steady.
• Stop squeezing once the meringue hits the tray. Lift the piping bag a tiny amount, without creating a break between the meringue on the tray and the meringue left in the piping bag. Drop the bag back down again and squeeze gently to form the top part of the ghost's body. Lift the piping bag straight up to leave a peak on the top of your ghosts' heads. This will take a bit of practice so don't worry if you don't get it right the first time, just keep going and get a feel for it! Repeat until you have piped all of your mixture - be sure to work quickly as your mixture will loosen over time. Find our tips for piping perfection below.
• Bake for about 40-50 mins until crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. Leave to cool completely on the baking trays. Once cooled, draw two big, droopy eyes and an open mouth. If you don't have an edible pen, you can gently melt 50g dark chocolate in a microwave and use a small paint brush to paint on the faces. Will keep for up to two weeks in a loosely covered container.