Witches’ brew? So last century. We’ve teamed up with Baileys to create these spookily delicious treats for stylish sorceresses to serve this Halloween
Ingredients (makes approx. 40 witches hats)
For the green witches hat meringues
150g egg whites (5 free range eggs)
300g caster sugar
Natural green food colouring
Witches hat rim
Baileys 100ml (omit completely & just use chocolate for alcohol free)
Dark chocolate 100g, finely chopped
50g pistachio nuts, finely blended
To decorate
A few sheets of edible gold leaf (optional)
Meringue Witches Hat Recipe – Method:
Start by lining a large baking tray with baking paper.
Preheat oven to 200˚C. Line a roasting tray with baking paper, pour in the caster sugar and put it in the oven for about 7 minutes until the edges are just beginning to melt. Heating the sugar helps to create a glossy, stable mixture.
Meanwhile, crack the egg whites into your free standing mixer. Make sure your bowl and whisk are free from grease. At first whisk slowly allowing small stabilizing bubbles to form, then increase the speed until the egg whites form stiff peaks.
The sugar should be ready to take out of the oven at this point.
Turn your oven down to 100˚C.
While you whisk at full speed, slowly, big spoon by spoon, add the hot sugar to the meringue mixture. Once you have added all of the sugar, continue to whisk on full speed for about 5-7 minutes. Feel a bit of the mixture between your fingers, if you can still feel the gritty sugar keep whisking at full speed until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth, stiff and glossy.
To colour the hats turn a disposable piping bag inside out. Place over a jug or bottle so that it holds itself. Use your green food colouring and a clean paint brush to paint thick stripes from the tip of your piping bag to half way down the bag (about 5 stripes).
Then turn carefully spoon your stiff meringue mixture into the piping bag and turn it the right side out. You need to pack the meringue mixture in tightly, ensuring there are no air bubbles. With sharp scissors, cut the tip of the piping bag to the size of a 50p coin.
To get the piping bag flowing, use some of the mixture pipe small dollops on to the four corners of your 2 baking sheets (if you are doing a full batch of 40 hats you will need a couple of baking sheets), and stick down your baking paper securely in place.
You are ready to start piping!
Hold the piping bag with two hands, place your dominant hand at the top of the piping bag and your other hand half way down the bag. Squeeze the bag (like an udder!) to form the witches hats. They should have a 2inch diameter and have a big peak at the top.
Bake at 100c for 45 minutes. Until they come off the baking sheets with their bases in tact. Leave to cool.
To make your ganache, gently heat the Baileys in a small pan until simmering. Put the finely chopped dark chocolate in a small bowl, and pour the hot Baileys over. Stir constantly, until melted & smooth. Alternatively, just use melted chocolate.
Dip the hat bases in the chocolate, and then dip in a small bowl of ground pistachio nuts to coat. Leave to dry. Add gold leaf to the witches hat tips if desired. Leave to set at room temp, and devour within 5 days.
Check out the VIDEO HERE
