This morning when I woke up, this is the view that greeted me out the living room windows:
Overnight a heavy blanket of white has fallen, frosting everything in 2 or 3 inches of snow. It looks beautiful and freeeezing out there.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around snow in November. November. Really?! But I’m also enjoying the first snow of the season and feeling more Christmas-y every day! This morning I finished making my first Christmas cookies while listening to “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!”. Please forgive the early overdose of Christmas cheer hehe.
Peppermint meringues with chocolate ganache – YUM. The original recipe used stripes of red gel food colouring in the piping bag to make perfectly striped red and white meringues. This does look fab and if you’re game you should try it. The technique sounded a bit tricky for me though with too much potential for a big pink goopy mess so I stuck to white meringue with a sprinkle of crushed candy cane on top.
These were delicious. The meringue is crispy and minty and perfectly complemented by the chocolate filling. I highly recommend making these for Christmas. They’re much nicer than candy canes and super cute.
Peppermint Meringues with chocolate ganache
Makes approx 2 dozen
- whites from 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cups white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
Preheat the oven to 80C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
Place a large heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. In the bowl stir together the egg whites and sugar. Stir and heat until the sugar has dissolved and the egg white is just slightly warm. Remove from heat and whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form – you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without any movement of the meringue.
Use a piping bag with a large star tip to pipe small meringues onto the baking sheets. Bake the cookies until crisp but not browned, about 1 hour 40 mins. Cool meringues completely before sandwiching together with a teaspoon of ganache.
To make ganache:
In a small saucepan heat 3/4 cup cream until hot but not boiling. Add 130g chocolate, chopped into small pieces. Stir the chocolate into the cream until it has melted and a smooth glossy ganache forms. It will thicken to a spreadable consistency as it cools.
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