It’s the holiday season and whether you are working in an office or going over to a friend’s house – this recipe I read about in Martha Stewart is sure to be a hit! The recipe is for “mini peppermint-meringue cups with ganache”! It makes plenty and looks pretty darn cute.
MINI PEPPERMINT-MERINGUE CUPS WITH GANACHE
Total time: 2 hours (until ready to eat)
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 32 pieces
Tip: To give these cups their festive design, paint lines of red gel paste food coloring up the inside of an empty pastry bag before adding the meringue.
INGREDIENTS FOR MERINGUE CUPS:
o Vegetable oil cooking spray
o 3 large egg whites, room temperature
o ¾ cup sugar
o ¼ teaspoon pure peppermint extract
o red gel-paste food coloring (sugarcraft.com)
INGREDIENTS FOR GANACHE:
o 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
o 1 cup heavy cream
Note: add a garnish with 1 large candy cane, finely chopped
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 175°. Trace 16 circles onto each of 2 pieces of parchment using a 1 ¾-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.
2. Make the meringue cups: heat egg whites and sugar in a heat proof 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.
3. Using a small food-safe paint brush, paint 3 stripes of red food coloring up the inside of a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch plain round tip. Transfer egg-white mixture to pastry bag (or a large Ziploc baggie with small hole cut at corner); pipe coils to fill each traced circle. Pipe up sides of each to create ¾-inch to 1-inch high cups.
4. 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.
5. Meanwhile, make the ganache: Transfer chocolate to a heat-proof bowl. Bring cream to a gentle simmer in a small sauce-pan 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.
6. Stir ganache, and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a ¼-inch open-stir tip. Pipe ganache into the center of each meringue cup. Garnish with candy cane.
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Make this hysterical cake for daddy this Father’s Day – a remote control cake! Of course, I am not a proponent of promoting television watching, but in my home growing up, my dad definitely had “control” over the TV’s remote control…or he would fall asleep with it in his hand where you couldn’t move it. Ha! Bake this cake or even make a big brownie sheet and decorate it with your children for this Sunday’s Father’s Day!
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