Meringue ghosts

My 'Boo'meringues

Halloween is a day away and instead of dressing up in a scary costume, I thought I'd go the bake way and give you'll just about enough time to make these cuties if you wish, in time for halloween.

I came upon a picture of the cutest meringue ghosts online and just HAD to try them out. This is so simple to make and oh so cute to look at. It is definitely a kid-favourite dessert and more so, a woman friendly one as it is practically non-fattening. A low cal dessert that looks too cute to eat, did I catch your attention already? I can hear a few of you going aww already :p These lil 'boo'meringues as I like to call them, look so much like the ghostly trio from Casper's gang, don't they. Why, I got Fatso, Stinky and Stretch on my plate :D

The recipe for these peppermint meringues is the same as my old one. It holds a special place in my heart as this was my first recipe to be posted on any blog. I did a guest post for a dear friend and soon, had my very own blog. I had shared a link to the recipe in my earlier posts, but for the lazy bees, here's the recipe again, with directions on how to make these spooky treats..

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• A pinch of cream of tartar or salt (optional)
• 2 to 3 drops of vinegar
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• A few drops of peppermint essence
• Chocolate chips for the eyes

Method:

• In a glass bowl, beat the egg whites along with the vinegar and cream of tartar/salt till soft peaks form. Gradually add in the sugar while beating. Increase the speed and beat till stiff peaks form. Once you have stiff peaks, add the peppermint extract and beat a little till it is mixed well into the meringue mixture.
• Pre-heat your oven to 110 degrees Celsius (the lowest temp on your oven works best). Fill the contents into a disposable piping bag or a zip lock bag, snip off  the end to form about 1 cm hole. Pipe onto your tray lined with parchment paper.  (I used foil since I didn't have any, works the same, so use whatever you have in your kitchen). As you pipe, release pressure after the first mound, pipe again, release and lift off, to form three mounds, on top of each other. The pic is self-explanatory. You can also just pipe blobs on as your ghosts can have any shape you desire. 
• If you are feeling lazy, ditch the pastry bag altogether and just drop spoonfuls of the meringue mixture on your tray.
• Take two chocolate chips and insert them, tip side down, into your meringue mounds to resemble eyes. Bake for about 50 minutes to an hour (more or less depending on how strong your oven is.) Check if they are done by tapping on them. The meringues shouldn't be soft to touch and you should hear a tap like you were knocking on a shell. Once they are done, leave them in the oven (turned off) for another 30 minutes. 
• You can take an edible marker and draw on funky smiles like I did, but they look cute just as well. 

Aren't we Bootiful?