Meringue Mushrooms

It all started very early I think, I loved their colors, their shape, their silent fantasy of someday becoming the home to a fairy, and I loved how one day there was nothing and the next-with the help of a little dew- the ground was covered in charming little mushrooms. The fascination has not passed. I love cooking with mushrooms and when doing fall desserts, meringue mushrooms are my favorite decorations. They are typically used on the Buche de Noel (yule log), but I tend to put them on much more. You can grate a chocolate bar in a shallow bowl and place the mushrooms on the bed of shavings as an edible centerpiece, you can place them on stacks of cookies or on top of cakes, around a pudding or to the side of a custard to contrast textures. They add an unexpected charm to this fall season and I feel they are a must at any Thanksgiving feast. Here is my favorite meringue mushroom recipe:

8 egg white (room temp)
1/2 t cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups sugar
1t almond extract (imitation not pure)

Preheat oven to 250 F. Place the egg whites and the cream of tartar in a mixing bowl and whisk until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually while mixing until it is all incorporated. It is important to do so gradually because if you put it all in at once it will take a lot longer and deflate the whites you just whipped! When they are a stiff peak add the almond extract and stop mixing. Place a piping tip about the diameter of a chocolate chip in a piping bag (tip: of you can't seem to find the bag just place the tip in the corner of a ziploc bag, they work just fine). Place about 1 cup of meringue in the bag then on a greased and floured or lined with parchment paper sheet tray hold the tip straight and down and about 1/4 inch from the tray make a kiss by keeping the tip in the same place as you squeeze until the meringue starts to bulge then slowly pull up and stop squeezing, these will be the tops. You can push down the tip of the cap with a little water on your finger tip. Repeat a whole lot. With the same action as the caps (only as you pull up continue to squeeze) make a stalagmite shape. Make a few more of the bottoms then tops because they tend to break. Place in the oven and let bake 1hr 45 min. then open the door, turn the oven off and let them sit for about an hour to finish drying out. Melt a few chocolate chips and set aside. Take the caps and hollow out a small hole in the middle of the bottom with the tip of a steak knife then take on the bottoms dip it in the chocolate, place it in the hole and allow to dry on a tray. You can paint the bottoms with dark chocolate then white then pull a toothpick over it to make the underside look more real but I just think thats too much work! Store in an airtight container at room temp and they should stay for about a week. Enjoy