Mini Peppermint-Meringue Cups With Ganache
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Martha Stewart Living, December 2010
- Prep Time 25 minutes
- Total Time 2 hours
- Yield Makes 32
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Ingredients
- For the meringue cups:
- Vegetable oil cooking spray
- 3 large egg whites, room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
- Red gel-paste food coloring (sugarcraft.com)
- For the ganache:
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Garnish: 1 large candy cane, finely chopped
Directions
- Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Trace 16 circles onto each of 2 pieces of parchment using a 1 3/4-inch round cookie cutter, spacing about 2 inches apart. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray, and top each with a sheet of parchment, traced side down.
- Make the meringue cups: Heat egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl of a mixer set over a pan of simmering water, stirring, until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm to the touch, about 3 minutes. Transfer bowl to mixer. Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Beat in peppermint extract.
- Using a small food-safe paintbrush, paint 3 stripes of red food coloring up the inside of a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain round tip. Transfer egg-white mixture to pastry bag; pipe coils to fill each traced circle. Pipe up sides of each to create 3/4-inch- to 1-inch-high cups.
- Bake until meringue cups are crisp but not browned and lift off parchment easily, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Transfer meringue cups to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
- Meanwhile, make the ganache: Transfer chocolate to a heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Pour over chocolate, and let stand for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and cut a small slit in the top. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Stir ganache, and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch open-star tip. Pipe ganache into the center of each meringue cup. Garnish with candy cane.
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To firm up the meringue, add 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar and 1/8 teaspoon of salt and beat for a long time! It worked for me after this change.
I'm a baker, as in owning a bakery, the formula for this recipe leaves a lot too be desired. I baked on a dry day and ended up using a confection oven with a 200 degree setting to dry these. The filling had to much cream for the amount of chocolate used, in the end I used 12oz of chocolate for a proper consistency. how disappointing this has to be for first timers.I now will always have second thoughts about using recipes from this site.Sorry , because this is such a neat idea.
I was not able to get the whites stiff enough. I tried TWICE. I made sure the bowl was clean; it's not raining.... what am I doing wrong? How do I ensure that the whites will stiffen?
To anyone else who hasn't made meringue cookies before: Make these the day you plan to serve them. The moisture from the ganache will absorb into the meringue overnight and your efforts will be wasted.
use equal amounts of chocolate to heavy cream (8oz cream/ 8oz chocolate)
Loved the flavor; however, my ganache did not firm up as expected. Any suggestions as to what went wrong? Followed recipe precisely.