Meringue Mushrooms Recipe

This meringue mushrooms recipe is a keeper. Crispy and sweet Christmas meringue cookies are perfect as a dessert, edible gifts, Buche de Noel, or Christmas Yule log decorations. They are fun to make and a joy to eat!

I have had the idea of making these mushroom meringue cookies as a dessert since my childhood. I remember how much I wanted to learn to make mushroom cookies as our neighbor did.

She decorated their caps with chocolate icing and covered the tips of the stems with poppy seeds. Then she placed them into a baked basket. It was the art I always wanted to learn.

Finally, I got the idea of making edible meringue mushrooms, but this time using meringue. As a Bûche de Noël lover, I used them to decorate the Christmas Yule log cake.

The meringue mushrooms look like real mushrooms. When I posted a picture of these sweet mushrooms with a trace of grass on Instagram some time ago, one of the readers completely confused them with the real ones.

She even asked me to post a recipe for "tagliatelle with mushrooms next time." These meringue cookies are sure to fool the eye!

History of meringue mushrooms

The first meringue mushrooms recipe appeared in Fannie Merritt Farmer’s Original 1896 Boston Cooking School Cook Book.

Although the popularity of these sweets probably is due to the recipe of Maida Heatter, who published it in 1974 in her "Book of Great Chocolate Desserts" and won the first prize for originality at the International Cooking Olympics.

Bûche de Noël meringue mushrooms

Meringue mushrooms make adorable meringue decorations for traditional French desserts - Bûche de Noël or Christmas Yule log. They are one of those “basic” log decorations that are called classic.

Use the white meringue to pipe the meringue caps or make red meringue mushrooms.

To make red meringue mushrooms, once the meringue is ready, divide the preparation into two halves. Add a few drops of red food coloring to one half and mix for about 30 seconds.

Pipe the white meringue to make stems, and pipe mushroom caps using the red-colored meringue.

Take a small amount of white meringue with a toothpick and make dots on red meringue caps. Then bake as directed.

Also, experiment with the different sizes of Yule log meringue mushrooms while pipping caps and stems.

Pastry chef Caitlin Dysart really exaggerates meringue mushrooms, her favorite decoration of a traditional Bûche de Noël!

According to Maida Heatter,

Smaller or larger mushrooms are equally attractive.

While presenting a Bûche de Noël, decorate a serving platter with meringue mushrooms fixing them with melted chocolate.

It will prevent them from breaking when they accidentally fall while serving the log to a holiday table.

Why this recipe works

1. Meringue mushrooms are perfect for decorating forest-themed cakes or Christmas Yule Log (Buche de Noel).
2. These Christmas meringue cookies make a great edible gift: package them in small plastic bags tied with a festive ribbon.
3. Using red food coloring to make meringue mushrooms caps, these cookies are perfect for making for Halloween too.
4. Mushroom meringues are fun to make for both kids and adults.
5. This meringue mushroom recipe is easily made on dry and rainy days. According to Maida Heatter, who "made these innumerable times in Miami Beach, where it is almost always humid, they [meringue mushrooms] are always perfect."
6. They can be made way ahead of time.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making the recipe as written for the best results.

Egg whites: use large egg whites. To separate them from the yolks, take the chilled eggs, and use an egg separator. Then let egg whites get to room temperature. It is essential!

Icing sugar: use icing sugar made with a coffee grinder or purchase powdered sugar.

Cocoa powder: the recipe calls for unsweetened cocoa powder.

Dark chocolate: use melted dark chocolate (read on how to melt chocolate) or replace it with milk or white chocolate. The use of dark chocolate brings a more realistic look to meringue mushrooms under the cap. You can also use royal icing or buttercream instead of melted chocolate to "glue" meringue caps and stems.

How to make meringue mushrooms

Preheat the oven to 210 F/100 C. To make the meringue, place egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a metal bowl to use an electric mixer.

Add powdered (icing) sugar and combine (photo 1). Put the bowl over the bain-marie/water bath and beat egg whites with a hand whisk until foamy.

When the mixture is hot, remove the bowl from the heat and beat, using a stand or an electric mixer, until the meringue is cooled completely. Once it is ready, use the meringue immediately (photo 2).

Place the meringue in a pastry bag fitted with a round tip ½" (12 mm). Pipe 4 meringue dots in the corners of a baking sheet and place parchment paper. It will fix the paper during pipping and baking.

To pipe the meringue stems, hold the pastry bag perpendicular to the baking sheet. Start piping gently, forming a stem's base, then lift the bag while squeezing. Make sure to make the pointed end by pulling up the bag.

For the mushroom caps, keep holding the piping bag perpendicular to the baking sheet and smoothly squeeze the bag. Push the meringue into a plain round shape.

Once the perfect shape is obtained, stop squeezing and slowly remove the bag off to the side to avoid creating a peak on top.

If needed, use a lightly moistened finger to flatten the spike of the meringue dome.

The size of mushroom caps and the height of stems may vary: while the caps may average to 1 to 2 inch (2.5 cm to 5 cm) rounds and about 1 inch/2.5 cm high, the stems may get about 1 inch/2.5 cm high.

Caps and stems should be placed 1 inch/2.5 cm apart. Sprinkle mushroom caps with cocoa powder (photo 3).

Bake caps and stems for 1 hour. Once the meringue is ready, let it cool and detach from parchment paper. Make a hole on the bottom of each cap with the tip of a knife (photo 4).

Fill the hole and the top of stems with a little dark chocolate melted in a microwave.

Insert the stems into the hole under the caps. Place the mushrooms upside down and refrigerate to allow the chocolate to set (photos 5-6).

Expert tips

1. Make sure egg whites are at room temperature.
2. Pipe different rounds and lengths of mushroom caps and stems.
3. Make a few extra stems since some of them may fall during baking.
4. Once meringue caps and stems are baked, keep the oven door slightly ajar to allow the meringues to cool; although, this step could be omitted.
5. Keep the baked caps and stems uncovered for a few days at room temperature before you assemble mushrooms.
6. To facilitate the assembling process, use a serrated knife to slightly even the meringue stems' top.
7. Store ready meringue mushrooms in an airtight container for a few weeks.

Frequently asked questions

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Recipe card

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee.

The recipe was originally published on May 05, 2018. It has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.