Forest Floor Vegan Meringue Mushrooms Cookies
Are these vegan meringue mushrooms the cutest things ever? Maybe! They’re sweet, crunchy, light, and melt in your mouth with just a touch of chocolate to contrast the flavor. Perfect for gift giving, cake decorating, and making sure you’re eating enough vegetables (just kidding!).
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Fall Foraging Dreaming
Yesterday, the high was 10°F (that’s around -12, for the rest of the world who use Celsius). It was so cold, Dougie, our little pupper, who has so far been totally unconcerned about cold, only went outside long enough to use the bathroom. And if Dougie doesn’t want to be outside, you can bet I’m not terribly thrilled about it either. And even though I don’t have a ton of desire to go out into the cold, I do miss a warmer, kinder, fall forest. Sun dappled ground, the smells of pine and dirt, and hidden under logs, in the dirt, and creeping up trees- mushrooms! I love foraging for mushrooms, and while there are a few to find in the winter (like wood ears), for the most part we have to wait until Spring and Summer for some foraging action, and all the way until next Fall for the real mushroom-extravaganza to take place. These little vegan meringue mushrooms (and the photos for the little mushroom meringues) were my way of dreaming for those warmer, more fungally fruitful Fall days. Only about 9 months left!
All About Aquafaba
Aquafaba is the liquid that comes from cooking beans, or can be found in a can of beans. Aqua, meaning water, and faba, meaning bean. Bean water! This magical ingredient has been poured down the drain for long enough-it’s time to recognize aquafaba for the fantastic vegan ingredient it is. It can be used as a great alternative to egg whites. It works fairly well as a binder in baking, but it’s most incredible ability is to whip up like egg whites, in recipes from meringues to macarons. The reason aquafaba works so well at this is because of the starch in the water, which let’s you make a fluffy foam by holding onto air when whipped.
You can use the liquid from any bean, but I tend to use chickpeas as they have a fairly neutral flavor. You can use canned aquafaba or the liquid from cooking beans. I tend to go for canned, since homemade aquafaba is often thinner, and needs to be reduced. A little cream of tartar is also super helpful to add to your aquafaba mix, as it stabilizes the mixture and helps the aquafaba to retain the air you whip in.
Looking for Aquafaba Recipes? Try one of these!
- 10-Minute Aquafaba Vegan Whipped Cream
- Vegan Lavender Aquafaba Meringues
- Creamy Pink Hibiscus Salad Dressing
- Vegan Lime and Coconut Spicy Cashews
- Vegan Santa Lucia Buns with Saffron and Cardamom
- Homemade Ranch Dressing (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, No Mayo)
- The Easiest, Any-Fruit, Baked Dessert (Vegan Clafoutis)
How to Make Vegan Meringue Mushrooms
While these little mushroom meringues might look tricky, they’re really not too hard. First things first, get your aquafaba nice and whipped into stiff peaks, and add the vanilla, cream of tartar, and sugar. You want it really nice and stiff, or you won’t get the meringues you want. I honestly recommend putting your aquafaba in the stand mixer and walking away for 5-10 minutes.
Next transfer your mixture to a piping bag. You’re also going to need a couple baking sheets, lined with silicone mats. And lets get piping! To make the mushroom caps, pipe round, half-sphere type shapes. Optionally, you can dust the top with a little cocoa powder to create little brown spots on the tops of the caps. Don’t worry about making them perfect, the variation in size and shape will make them a lot prettier and more natural looking. to pipe the stems, just make a dot, squeeze your piping bag, and pull up to create a little line. Again, variation and imperfections just improve the overall design. After that the meringues go into the oven to dry for about an hour and a half.
Once the cookies are dried and cooled, melt some vegan chocolate to act as your glue. You might also want to add a teaspoon or two to the chocolate to help loosen it up, if that seems needed. to attach the stalks to the caps, it helps to cut a small amount off the rounded ends of the stalks, to create a flat surface for the caps to stick to. Cover the bottom of the meringue cap with chocolate- I like to use a brush, and use the brush strokes to create the look of gills. When you stick the stalk to the cap, let it sit upside down until the chocolate hardens. After that, store your meringues in an air-tight container. You can give these sweet little mushroom cookies as gifts, use as decoration on a woodsy themed cake, or just eat them as is!
Forest Floor Vegan Meringue Mushrooms Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup chickpea aquafaba (liquid in can of chickpeas)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp. cream of tartar
- 2/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1-2 tsp. cocoa powder (optional)
- 1.5 oz. vegan chocolate (you may need a little more or less)
Instructions
- Add the aquafaba, vanilla, and cream of tartar to a stand mixer, attach your balloon whisk, and turn on high. You can in theory do this with a hand mixer, but aquafaba takes a good bit longer to mix up than egg whites, so a stand mixer will save your arms. Whip the aquafaba until you have stiff peaks (about 10 minutes). While the mixer is still going, add the sugar slowly to the whipped aquafaba. Keep on mixing until all the sugar is incorporated, and the meringue is silky and smooth, and not at all grainy.
- Preheat the oven to 200°F (95°C). Prepare a couple baking trays with silicone mats (or you can use parchment paper). Place the whipped meringue into a piping bag (no tip needed), or you can use a Ziplock bag and cut one corner off to make a piping bag. To pipe the caps of the mushrooms, make circular shapes with smooth, rounded tops. You can vary the size and how flat or circular they are for fun variations. To create dots on top, use a small metal mesh strainer to dust with cocoa powder. To pipe the stems, simple pipe a dot, and pull the piping bag straight up to create the stalk. Place the piped meringue in the oven for 90 minutes to dry. After 90 minutes, turn off the oven but leave the meringues inside to cool or another hour or so.
- Once the meringues are fully cooled, melt your chocolate in 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring between each time, until it is liquid. You can add a little coconut oil, if your chocolate isn’t melting smoothly. Use a brush to spread chocolate onto the bottom of a mushroom cap, leaving the brush marks going around the edges so they look like the mushroom gills. Take a stalk and press it onto the bottom of the mushroom- I found it helped to cut a very small amount off the top of the stalk to make a level surface to join the two. Leave the mushroom upside down, until the chocolate sets. Repeat with the remaining meringue mushrooms as you wait. Once the chocolate has firmed up, the mushrooms should be stored in an airtight container.
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