Boo! Meringue Ghosts!

Halloween is around the corner, and the kids were itching for a fun holiday treat. These ghosts are made using a basic meringue recipe. If you pipe them right, you can turn them into yummy tasting ghosts!

Happy Halloween!

Coconut Meringue Ghosts

What You’ll Need:

• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
• 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 3/4 tsp coconut extract (or any flavor of your choice)
• 6 oz milk chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
• a handful of almonds
• parchment paper
• sandwich bag
• toothpick
• piping bag with a #12 tip -or- sandwich bag with 1/2-inch cut in one corner

How To Make Ghosts:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. If your eggs are not at room temperature, put them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes to take the chill off the eggs.
2. Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium-high until foamy.
3. Then add cream of tartar and continue beating until the egg whites begin to hold peaks.
4. Add sugar little by little while the mixer continues to beat the eggs.
5. Once all the sugar has been added, add the coconut extract.
6. Continue beating until the egg white mixture is thick and glossy. The peaks should be pretty stiff (takes about 10 minutes more or less).
7. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Place meringue into a piping bag and make ghosts with a #12 tip. If you don’t have a piping bag or tip, you can use a ziplock bag with a 1/2-inch hole cut in the corner.
9. Make the ghosts about 1 1/2 inches wide and 2 inches tall. You can either swirl in circles until 2 inches high (kind of like ice cream in a cone) or you can make squeeze a big blob to make the base and then pull up and squeeze again to make a smaller blob on top (continuing until 2 inches high).
10. Bake ghosts for one hour, and then open the door and continue baking for another 30 minutes. Turn off the oven, close the door, and let meringues sit for another hour.
11. Once the meringues are out of the oven, it’s time to decorate! Place chocolate chips in a bowl and microwave at 50% power for 1 minute 30 seconds. Stir the chocolate and keep microwaving in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until the chocolate is completely melted.
12. While chocolate is melting in the microwave, place almonds in a sandwich bag. Pound the bag to crush the almonds. I like using a heavy bottomed pot, and I flip the sandwich bag over every so often while pounding.
13. Take each ghost and dip the bottom into melted chocolate, then dip into crushed almonds. Place back on baking sheet.
14. Using a toothpick and melted chocolate, paint two eyes and a mouth. Repeat decorating ghosts until they are all complete!

Makes about 30 ghosts!