Monster Meringues Recipes

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:

• Heat your oven to 400degreesF Line 2 flat baking sheets and a deep baking tray with baking parchment.
• Place the caster sugar in the deep baking tray in the oven for 7 minutes.
• Place the egg whites in a stand mixer on the slowest speed and start whisking. Gradually increase the speed until soft peaks form and the sugar is ready. Take the sugar out of the oven-it should be hot but not caramelized. Turn the temperature down to 200°F.
• Slowly add the sugar to your eggs with the mixer on full speed, one spoon at a time. Be careful not to add the sugar too quickly or your eggs will deflate.
• Once all the sugar has been added, keep the mixer going for a minute longer until the mixture looks thick and glossy. A good way to check if it is done is to dip the whisk into the mix to see if it creates a peak once pulled out.
• Divide the mixture between 4 bowls and carefully fold in the powdered food color.
• Scoop the mixture into 4 piping bags fitted with round and star nozzles. Pipe your monsters onto the baking sheets and add sprinkles.
• Bake for 1 hour until the meringue comes away from the baking parchment clean and the base is firm.
• Leave to cool.
• Stick on the eyes with a dot of icing.

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:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Put the caster 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.
• Put the egg whites and cream of tartar into the bowl of a stand 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.
• Turn the oven down 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, so 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, about 2-5 mins after you add the last of the sugar. You should also be able to see peaks in the mixture as you remove and upturn the whisk.
• To add colour to your monsters, you will need to paint your piping bags. This mixture will make enough for two piping bags - one green, and one purple - but feel free to choose your own monster colours, and even mix them up by painting stripes. Turn your piping bags inside out. Place the bags over jugs or bottles so that they hold themselves up. Paint a thick layer of food colouring from the tip of the piping bag to halfway down the bag. Invert the bags, then carefully spoon your 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 some baking 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 your dominant 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 monsters. Stop squeezing once the meringue hits the tray. Lift the piping bag a little 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 monster's body.
• Repeat until you have piped all of your mixture, working quickly as the mixture will loosen over time. Bake for 40-50 mins until crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. Leave to cool on the baking trays.
• If you want to make your own googly eyes, do this at least 24 hrs in advance. Make 100g stiff royal icing, colouring a quarter of this black using black gel colouring. Put the white and black icing into two separate piping bags. Use scissors to snip a little hole at the tip. Carefully pipe white dots onto a parchment-lined baking tray, then leave them to set. Once dry, use the black icing for the pupils. Pipe different-shaped eyes - some big, some small, or perhaps three adjoining. Leave to set overnight until they lift off the baking parchment easily. Use more icing to stick the eyes onto the meringues. Once set, will keep for two weeks in a cool dry place in a loosely covered container.