Mini Peppermint Meringue Cups With Ganache

First of all, 

before we get to the

mini peppermint meringue cup

I wanted to post a photo 

from my daughter's driveway

 at her home in Mt. Shasta.

This was yesterday.

and it's still snowing up there.

Our snow has melted

away and it's raining. 

Now on to that mini peppermint

meringue cups with ganache recipe.

I tried this recipe last year.

Un huh, this recipe has been

languishing in draft form

for a year now.

I was having such a hard

time with  blogging issues

last December that I gave up

on the post and didn't 

want to post it after Christmas.

So here it is,

barely in time for this Christmas.

~~~~~

~~~~~

There's a saying in my husband's

family that comes from his Aunt Rita.

I'll let you know what that was in a

few seconds, but first I'll

tell you a bit about Aunt Rita.

She was a blunt 
'tell it like it' is woman

who didn't pull her punches ~ 

at all.

She could cuss like a sailor

and most often did.

The very first time I met her

was about
 thirty seven eight years ago.

Rick had come home

on leave between Navy boot camp

and A school 
or perhaps it was C school.

This was when he was 
just a boyfriend...

and oh man, 
that was long ago.

Anyway, we walked into

the family sign shop 
where she was working. 

It had been awhile since

she had seen Rick.

Rick had gained muscles

and weight during boot camp

going from a rather skinny guy

to a normal guy.

The very first thing 
out of Aunt Rita's mouth was

"Darn Rick, you sure got fat"

and it wasn't exactly those words...

I wasn't sure what to think,

but I was shrinking inside 
and taking a

step back to hide behind Rick. 

Yikes.

She could play a mean

honky tonk piano.

That surprised and thrilled me

and unfortunately there was

  only one time I heard her play.

She was one of the

good cooks in his family

making something out of

little and making it stretch to

feed who ever gathered
 for the meals.
She'd place a pan full of

goulash, stew, spaghetti

or something on the table

and declare loudly that

"It may look like 'S~~~' 

but it tastes good."

So now when we family

members make something

that we're less than proud of

in the looks department,

we just remember Rita and

declare that 
it may look like s~~~,

but it tastes good!

This recipe turned out 

to be one of those that

tastes good in spite
of how it looks.

This photo was taken

before the meringues got

a bit smashed in the trunk

of the car when my tote bag

fell onto them.

I'll include a link for the recipe

below, but you should know

that this will not

be a complete tutorial.

 I was in a hurry

to get these finished

and ready in time

to meet up with friends

for game day at Seniors.

First thing:

 Find something to

replace the 1 3/4~inch

round cookie cutter that

Martha Stewart expects you to have.

Yes, it's one of her recipes.

I've got to give credit where it's due.

Draw circles onto parchment

paper  placed on two baking pans.

You'll need 32 circles for this batch.

The parchment paper does get

turned over so that the

pencil lead side is underneath.

Plan on serving these

to a crowd of people on the same

day you make them.  They don't

store well, at all. 

You'll need to fashion

a double boiler system

 in case you don't have 

a double boiler pan in your

 well stocked kitchen.

  Check for a good fit

before adding egg whites 

to the top bowl.

You will be warming up the egg whites

and sugar over simmering water

 for about three minutes

before whipping them in the mixer.

Um,

No you can't fill the bottom

pot to the top because you

think your going to kill two birds

with one stone and make a batch

of iced tea with the same water

you boiled for the meringue project.

Because when you have the water

to the top of the pan and it's

bathing the bottom of the mixer bowl

full of egg whites~ it will cook the

whites  instantly, rather

than warming them gently while

stirring to get the sugar dissolved.

I'm just saying you'll have

to start over with egg whites

that are supposed to be room

temp when you start whipping

them together with the sugar
and peppermint extract.

So now  

 room temp egg whites 

are not likely to happen

if you're already

 feeling time pressured.

You are supposed to whip the

whites, sugar

 and peppermint extract 

until stiff peaks form.

That step seems to take forever

and you'll wonder

if it's supposed to take this long

 because you've never whipped

egg whites and sugar after warming them

in a make shift double boiler before.

So you'll decide that this is as good as

it's going to get and move on with the

rest of the recipe, but you really should

beat until the peaks stand

straight and not curl.

You probably should

go find a clean small

food safe paint brush

but around here, we don't 

exactly have one of those.

   

This method using a bamboo skewer

 added too much red gel~paste food coloring

and moisture to an already too soft

egg white/sugar which resulted

in a very bright and finger staining

colorful first attempt at piping

meringue cups.

Some where about halfway through

piping the meringue ~ the cups looked

just  right  ~ like candy canes,

 and then they were

fading to  light pink

.... but never mind.

It would also help to have

the correct cake decorating tip.

You do need the 1/4~inch round tip.

Mine was smaller...

So continuing on:

Bake the meringue cups in

a 175*F. oven for

90 minutes, and then for another

5, and lets see how about

20  more minutes in a 200*F.

oven  because they're

supposed to gently lift from

the parchment paper, and be crispy

done without browning.

Meanwhile, as the meringues

are baking you  make the ganache.

Let this heavy cream

 and bittersweet chocolate

mixture cool in the refrigerator

 for just an hour. 

Do not make the

chocolate ganache as soon

as you put the meringues into the oven.

More than an hour of chilling

time will make the ganache

too hard to pipe into your

meringue cups.  

You'll blow a hole in 

the side of your pastry bag 

creating quite the chocolatey

melty mess in your hands

and getting very little

 through the decorating tip.  

You'll also get chocolate

 on your pretty

pink Christmas sweater set

and have to go change to your

red Christmas sweater instead.

You'll forget to stain stick

your pretty pink shirt,

and have to spend hours

soaking it in Oxi Clean to hopefully

get the set in chocolate stains out.

So anyway,

here they are.

They may look like s~~~

but they taste good.
(grin!)

 This is what they should look like.

If you ever want to try this,
here's the recipe link.

http://www.marthastewart.com/296264/mini-peppermint-meringue-cups-with-ganac

 Oh how I wish I

had seen this online first 
and read the reviews

before attempting this recipe
 from the magazine.

There are some good helpful ideas

in the comments 
to get this recipe to cooperate.

I wasn't the only one to have
problems...

Merry Christmas