Make These Two-Ingredient Ghost Meringue Cookies
Halloween is synonymous with sugar, and cookie overload with chocolate, gummy worms, and sugar eyeballs is the norm. But after your fifth dozen servings of orange cream cookies, it’s wise to let the butter and sprinkles rest. Hold on to your brooms because we have cookies that only require two basic ingredients. These are meringue cookie ghosts, with a touch of decoration but full of spooky seasonal spirit.
Meringue is an airy sweet treat made from beaten egg whites and sugar. It has no fat, which means the finished cookie is light as a feather and crispy like a board (well, crunchy, actually). The egg white mixture is whipped until it reaches a thick peak consistency, allowing it to retain its ghostly shape as it bakes. Instead of cookies that require a higher oven temperature to cook and activate the chemical leavening agents, meringue cookies use low heat and cook as they dry. Baking these cookies is relatively passive, and decorating them can be as simple or elaborate as you see fit.
To make silky meringue, I usually choose a cooked meringue, such as Swiss or Italian . They are more stable than raw meringue , with smaller bubbles that give it a finer texture. The trade-off is that you need to cook the mixture in a bain-marie or bain- marie for the Swiss meringue, or make sugar syrup for the Italian meringue, both of which can seem like annoying extra steps. For bakers who prefer raw meringues, you can whip French meringues just as easily, because they will end up cooking in the oven. (If you’re interested, here’s more information on meringues .)
The recipes above include a small amount of various contraptions such as salt, cream of tartar, or extracts. Cream of tartar or other acids can help stabilize the meringue and improve the rise, and you can choose it if you want, but you don’t need it . I make meringue often and never use these extra ingredients. Extracts are fine for subtle flavors, but again, this isn’t necessary because you’re usually just adding a touch. The only thing you need is egg whites and sugar. Everything else is a bonus.
Once you’ve made the meringue of your choice, test to see if it ‘s stiff, but not dry, at its peak by lifting the whisk out of the mixture. If he is standing straight without turning over, you are ready to form ghosts. You can use a piping bag with a simple tip or no tip at all. If you don’t have a pastry bag, use the back of a spoon. Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Fill a piping bag with meringue and squeeze out the ghosts, which may look like teardrops or tadpoles. You can get creative by twisting the tails to one side (because ghosts are always on the move) or giving them chubby little arms. The same can be done with a spoon. Spoon onto a baking sheet and use the back of the spoon to spread the meringue and give it a ghost shape.
Place the meringues in a preheated 200°F oven for 50 minutes. Then turn off the heat, but open the oven door slightly and leave the cookies inside for another 30 minutes. This will help cool the cookies without cracking. (If you get cracks, it’s okay. It’s Halloween, after all; scary is trendy..) The meringues will be bone-dry and shouldn’t take on any color.
No matter which version of meringue you prefer (check out this post for a simple ratio and method for making Swiss meringue), they will all turn into eerily convincing ghosts equally well. When they’re cool, use edible ink , melted chocolate, or a small paintbrush and food coloring to paint sad, ghostly faces on them. Or for a spookier look, use a paring knife to poke holes in the meringue and make hollows for the eyes.