Valentine Meringue Mario Mushrooms!

I really wanted to do this how-to on the 8th, but I was attending NY comicon, and just didn’t have the time, so I’m doing it today!

Last year, our company decided to have a pot-luck style office Christmas party. I knew a lot of people were making entrees, so I wanted to make a dessert. Then I remembered the meringue mushrooms I’d had at my friend’s party before. It looked just like mushrooms but it was made out of meringue! I made bunch of meringue mushrooms and people loved them!

Meringue mushrooms are very sweet, so I thought it’d be perfect for Valentine’s day. Just normal meringue mushroom would be boring… so I decided to make it into Valentine meringue mushroom for a nerdy boyfriend!

[Valentine Meringue Mario Mushrooms (this recipe makes about 24~26 mushrooms)]
– 2 egg whites (room temperature)
– 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
– 1/4 teaspoon salt
– 1 cup white sugar (or powder sugar if you have any)
– marshmallow
– vanilla extract (if you have any)
– red food coloring (green for 1up mushroom)
– chocolate (baking chocolate is preferred, but you can just use a normal bar chocolate bar)
– white icing (I used the one that comes in a tube)
– a round tip with a pastry bag (or gallon size Ziplock bag. That’s what I used.)
– toothpick

Two egg whites, cream of Tartar, sugar, and salt and cream of Tartar on a plate

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Put parchment paper (or aluminum foil) on a baking sheet.

2. Put egg whites in a metal or glass bowl, and whip it until it’s foamy. (I used an electric mixer this time, but when I made normal meringue mushrooms before, my boyfriend whipped it for me using a whisk.)

3. Add cream of tartar, and salt (and vanilla extract if you have any) and keep whipping.

4. When the whites hold soft peaks, gradually add sugar (make sure you don’t let sugar sink to the bottom) and whip it until the whites are very stiff and shiny.

5. I wanted to make Super mushroom and 1UP mushrooms, so I divided #4 into two bowls, and added food coloring for each bowl. (about 10 drops each)

6. If you have a pastry bag, place a round tip into the bag, and fill the bag half way with the meringue. If you don’t have a pastry bag (like me) put the meringue into a gallon size ziplock bag and cut the corner of the bag right before you use it. Ziplock works fine, and the best part is you don’t have to clean it! 😛

7. Squeeze the meringue on the parchment paper. Hold the bag close to the paper, and squeeze the meringue out until the meringue is about 2 inch in diameter, then slowly pull it upwards while squeezing. There will be peaks on the top, so gently push it down with a wet finger.

8. Put it in the oven and bake it about an hour. (or until the meringue is dry)

9. When the meringue is done, put a little bit of chocolate in a bowl and microwave. (Be careful not to burn it!)

10. You can either…
– Dip the tip of marshmallow in the melted chocolate and put the meringue on top.
– Or if you don’t have enough chocolate, slice the top of marshmallow and stick it under the meringue.

11. Use a toothpick to draw the melted chocolate for the eyes.

12. Put the meringue on the top of marshmallow.

13. Put dots using icing on the meringue.

The color on both mushrooms may seem washed out, and the icing is spotty and messy... but your loved ones will be too busy going "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" to notice it! 😛

I guess I could’ve made the meringue part taller, but it’s still cute and a gamer should get it. 😛 Two egg whites make about 24 mushrooms. It’s meringue and marshmallow, and you can’t eat that many of this, so I think you’ll have enough unless you’re making it for a huge number of people.

How to make meringue Mario mushrooms

For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.