Meringue Girls Metallic Stripe Christmas Trees Recipe
These are classic Christmas trees, with a modern metallic twist. Each meringue is hand painted with an edible metallic shimmer. The flavour is Christmas spice and they are sensationally crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle. Yum! Makes about 30 trees.
Ingredients:
- 150g free-range egg whites
- 300g caster sugar
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp mixed spice
- Gold star sprinkles
- Edible lustre, like Sugarflair
- Vodka
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180C.
- Line a large roasting tray and a large baking tray with baking paper.
- Pour the caster sugar into the lined roasting tray and place in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, weigh your egg whites into a mixing bowl fitted with a whisk attachment. Prepare a piping bag fitted with an open star nozzle (like JEM 2ES). Gradually turn up the speed on the mixer, allowing small bubbles to form. Now increase the speed until your mixer is on high and it creates stiff peaks.
- Take your sugar out the oven and turn the heat down to 100C, leaving the oven door open to help cool it down.
- With the egg whites stiff, and whisk going at full speed, add 1 large tablespoon of the hot sugar, then repeat, pausing for a few seconds between each spoonful. Be sure to bash out any big lumps of sugar before adding into the mixture as these could get stuck in your nozzle.
- Once you have added all the sugar, continue to whisk for a minute or two. You will know that the meringue is done when it forms a nice, smooth, shiny, peak on the tip of your upturned finger. Now gently fold through the spices.
- Place the meringue into your prepared piping bag and get the lined baking tray ready. Hold the piping bag with both hands, placing your dominant hand at the top of the piping bag and your other halfway down the bag. Use the top hand to apply pressure and the lower hand to control where you are piping. Squeeze the bag 3 times to form a tree shape, making sure the base is the widest layer. Pipe the rest of your trees, finishing them off with a star on each tip and bake in the oven at 100C for about an hour or until they come off the baking paper and the bases are solid.
- To decorate, mix up your lustre with some vodka until you get a smooth paint-like consistency, and using a paintbrush, paint on stripes and leave to dry.
- These will last up to two weeks, stored at room temperature.
