All the fall holidays are my favorite, but Halloween definitely kick starts it. It’s also a time to do things a little bit out of the ordinary. Spooky and scary treats are all the rage but I struggle every year with a Halloween treat though. I always try to strike the fine line between gaudy and grotesque with elegant and refined. This year, I settled on meringue cookies shaped as mummies.
Meringues seem intimidating to make, but they’re really not. It’s just a few ingredients put together in a way you don’t normally do and that’s it! I love the texture of a meringue where it’s light and airy but also crisp. It’s also so versatile because you can pipe them into so many shapes and sizes!
A few tips when making meringue:
- Make sure all the tools are clean and have no residue of oil. I know we wash the mixing bowl and whisk when we’re done with it, but it’s a good idea to rewash just before using.
- I also like to wipe the bowl and whisk with either lemon juice or vinegar right before use to really make sure there is no oil. Oil will deflate the egg whites and won’t whip up at all. This is also why it’s important not to have any egg yolk at all in the egg whites.
- Add the sugar gradually. Too much sugar all at once will inhibit the egg whites from forming peaks of any kind. You’ll end up with soupy, sugary egg liquid.
- Cream of tartar is optional. It’s actually a stabilizer for a meringue. It’s an acidic salt that alters the pH of the eggs to foam up faster and helps them from collapsing. So your egg whites whip up faster and bigger.
- Meringues got a bit sticky? Pop them back into the oven for 10-15 minutes to dry up the surface again. Cool them in the oven without opening the door. Then throw them into an airtight container right away. The moisture in the air is causing that stickiness to happen.
Halloween Mummy Meringues
October 28, 2019
: 10 min
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Black sesame seeds
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 200F.
- Step 2 Add egg whites, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla extract to a bowl of a stand mixer.
- Step 3 On high, whip eggs until foamy (about 2 minutes).
- Step 4 Slowly add sugar to eggs one tablespoon at a time and whip for about 7 minutes until egg whites are shiny and form stiff peaks.
- Step 5 Put beaten egg whites into a pastry bag with piping tip (I use a size 12).
- Step 6 Pipe into a zig zag motion to create a mummy shape.
- Step 7 Add two sesame seeds for eyes.
- Step 8 Bake for 45 minutes to an hour (depending on the humidity in your area), turn off oven and leave tray in oven to dehydrate further.
- Step 9 Remove meringue cookies and place into an airtight container.
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