Meringue Mushrooms (and Cookies) Are Easier Than You Think

"Choose your own adventure with this classic meringue recipe. You can pipe the meringue to resemble mushroom caps and stems, glue them together with chocolate, and arrive at a platter full of very life-like meringue fungi to decorate your bûche de Noël for a true forest-themed masterpiece. (They're time consuming, but are a traditional part of the bûche de Noël experience - and they never cease to garner applause and delight from dinner guests.)"

"Or, if you're not feeling the forest theme or simply don't have the patience for piping, the meringue can also be spooned onto a baking sheet into messy clouds and eaten as cookies. The garnish for either is up to you; I'm feeling chopped pistachios lately, but you could also sprinkle them with broken up candy canes, toasted coconut, or crushed freeze-dried raspberries."

"If you're going the mushroom route, make sure to bake the meringues until completely dry and hollow - letting them rest in the turned-off oven after baking for a few hours will help them become sturdier. Once they're baked and cooled sufficiently, they'll be easier to assemble and won't buckle when pressed into the cake. As for the cookies, if you're after shatteringly crisp cookies, bake them until very dry and let them rest in the turned off oven for a few hours (or overnight)."

Classic meringue can be piped into mushroom caps and stems, then glued together with melted dark chocolate to create lifelike fungi for a bûche de Noël. Alternatively, spoon meringue into messy cloud shapes and bake as cookies. Suggested garnishes include chopped pistachios, broken candy canes, toasted coconut, or crushed freeze-dried raspberries. Bake mushroom shapes until completely dry and hollow, then let them rest in a turned-off oven for several hours to strengthen. For cookies, bake very dry for shattering crispness or bake until set and dry briefly in the turned-off oven for a marshmallow-soft center. Makes about 24 mushrooms or 18 cookies. Key ingredients include egg whites, cream of tartar, sugar, vanilla, cocoa, and chopped dark chocolate for mushrooms. Preheat oven to 225°F.

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