Today's recipe was a borderline disaster. I found this recipe for Ghastly Meringues in my Food Network Magazine and they were so cute I just HAD to try them.
Well, for anyone who doesn't know how to make meringues and has never tried them before...this may not be the best recipe to try for the first time on the day you want to make them.
I recruited my husband for help. The recipe seemed simple enough...beat egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar together until stiff. Well, either the beating needs to be for more than the recommended 5-6 minutes or else my husband and I just fail at this task.
We actually made two batches. The first batch I actually used egg whites and the mixture just wouldn't get stiff enough and turned into a runny mess.
The second time, I had Meringue powder made by Wilton and you can use it as an egg white substitute. So I did.
It seemed to work better from the start, but when I tried piping the mixture onto the way paper, it didn't stay in stiff peaks and ended up in blobs. I hoped it would rise in the oven. (It didn't).
My end result ended up meringue cookies. They tasted great, just not in the shape I wanted!! OOPS!!
I would say this is a dessert that only people who have a lot of time to perfect it try, or people who already know how to make a meringue. Otherwise it is a super cute and tasty treat for a game day around Halloween, or for a Halloween party!
Here is the recipe: (total time, 1 hour 35 minutes. 35 minutes active time, 1 hour baking).
Ingredients:
3 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until frothy.
Beat in the sugar; increase the mixer speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form, 5 to 6 minutes.
Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip. Pipe 8 to 10 swirls on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake until dry, 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let cool completely.
Put the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave on 50 percent power until melted, about 1 minute, stirring halfway.
Transfer the melted chocolate to a zip-top bag and snip a corner. Pipe the chocolate on the meringues to look like eyes.
This recipe was classified as easy, but I obviously do not have talent enough for this. Oh well - chalk it up to the fact that I am still NOT the best baker and am better at cooking dinner recipes.
It's still a cute recipe and seems easy so good luck to all who try it out!
Stay tuned either later or tomorrow for a special guest post by my cousin-in-law, Melissa!! She made a special pumpkin treat.
** Top Photograph courtesy of Raymond Hom on Food Network website. It does not belong to me. (I just wanted a picture of how the treats were supposed to look!)
Here is what my crappy "ghosts" ended up like!! :-)
Oh, I am so sorry, but I am laughing! WITH you, not at you A - you are amusing even when having cooking disasters!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I am a little confused at to what went wrong. You are a much better cook than I am, and I can make meringue? (I only learned how after my mother died, as my father loves lemon meringue pie and my mother was allergic to eggs) (I do it with cream of tartar).
I am wondering if maybe you beat it too much? It gets to a certain point of fluffy, then it collapses (unlike, say, whipped cream). At least for lemon meringue pie, you get it to the fluffy point, then dollop it on.
Again, I am so sorry, but that last picture is still cracking me up!
I am glad I could entertain...I seriously have no idea why I couldn't do this. I know I am much better at cooking than baking so part of me is just not surprised.
ReplyDeleteI tried, and one day I will try again. :-)
Oh sorry the above was from me (Triz).
ReplyDeleteThat picture is still hilarious! Poor sad little meringue guy :(