Halloween Meringue
These cute Halloween Meringue are crispy outside and chewy on the inside. Place them on cakes, cupcakes or pop them in your mouth
Ingredients
- 300 gm sugar (NOTE 1)
- 150 gm egg whites (approx, 5 to 6 large eggs) (NOTE 2)
- Orange food colouring (for the pumpkins only) (NOTE 3)
- Black and red Icing gel or pen (NOTE 4)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220°C (430°F) or 200°C (390°F) for fan-forced ovens. Use paper towels with lemon juice or vinegar to clean the bowls, whisk, and utensils. Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper (parchment paper) for the meringues. Do not grease the tray or the paper because we will use the meringue mixture later to 'glue' the paper to the tray to keep it in place. Place a star tip for the pumpkins or a round tip for the ghosts and place the bags over a tall glass.
- Line a separate small baking tray with baking paper and place the sugar in the middle. Place this sugar tray in the oven for 7 minutes or until the outside edges of the sugar will melt slightly. Avoid leaving the heated sugar on the bench top for too long before adding it into the meringue. Reduce the heat to 120°C (250°F) or 100°C (210°F) for fan-forced ovens. Leave the oven door open as this will help the oven temperature go down faster.
- Whilst the sugar is in the oven, start whisking the egg whites in the stand mixer using the balloon whisk attachment. Start on low speed and gradually increase the speed. Once the egg whites start to foam and small bubbles appear, increase the speed to medium high. Whisk until the egg whites are at stiff peaks, then increase the speed to the highest setting and slowly add the heated sugar in a teaspoon at a time, pausing for a few seconds in between to allow the eggs to get back to stiff peaks.
- Once all the sugar is all added, stop the mixture and scrape the sides of the bowl. Continue to mix at the highest speed for 5 to 8 minutes. Test the meringue mixture by placing a small amount between your fingers. If it's still gritty, keep mixing for a little longer. Once the meringue is smooth and the sugar has dissolved, add in 1 or 2 drops of orange food colouring (if making pumpkins). Whisk it at high speed for a few seconds until the colour has combined evenly.
- Optional - For the pumpkin, use a skewer to apply orange food colouring into the piping bag lengthwise. Place half of the meringue in the piping bag and pipe 1cm size ghosts or pumpkins on the prepared tray. You can pipe them close to each other but not touching as they shouldn't expand too much. Bake them for 20 to 30 minutes or until they are dry to the touch, and easy to lift from the baking paper. Leave the meringues cool completely in the oven, with its door ajar. This usually takes 3 to 4 hours, or you can leave it overnight. Draw faces on the pumpkins and ghosts.
Notes
(NOTE 1) Caster sugar (superfine sugar) - Caster sugar has finer granules than regular white sugar. However, it's not the same as confectionary, icing, or powdered sugar. Many baking or candy recipes call for caster sugar as it dissolves faster and better into mixtures. If you can't find caster sugar, you can make your own by placing regular sugar in a food processor or blender. Pulse the sugar a few times until it looks finer, but take care not to over-blitz it so a powder consistency.
(NOTE 2) Egg whites - Fresh room temperature eggs are ideal for whipping up meringues. Separate the eggs when it's been chilled, then leave the whites at room temperature for approximately 30 minutes. When separating the eggs, use 3 clean grease-free bowls. One bowl to separate the egg, one for the yolk, and one to place all the egg whites in. This way, if a yolk breaks, you won't end up contaminating the entire egg whites. I've used carton egg whites to make these meringues and they do work, but they don't whip up as nicely as fresh eggs.
(NOTE 3) Food colouring - For the pumpkin meringue you'll need orange food colouring, which may be difficult to find. You can mix your own by adding an equal amount of yellow and red food colouring together. Use non-oil-based colours and only one or two tiny drops at most as too much moisture may crack the meringues. I couldn't get the perfect pumpkin orange colour that I desired, so added the colouring to the piping bag with a skewer.
(NOTE 4) Icing decoration - For the faces, I used store-bought icing gels, the ones that set dry. Royal icing or edible writing pens would also work.
Leftovers - Place the meringues in an airtight container at room temperature. They should keep for up to 3 weeks.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Nutrition
Serving: 1meringueCalories: 13kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 3mgPotassium: 3mgSugar: 3gCalcium: 1mgIron: 1mg