Ghostly Brownies
This blog posting could also be titled: my meringue technique needs some work!
When I was a kid, my mom baked with my sister and I a lot. And many of the best recipes she had came from magazines. To this day, I can’t pass by a free recipe booklet in a grocery store without grabbing it to leaf through, just in case my next great recipe is in it. And that is exactly how I found the recipe for Ghostly Brownies! And, as luck would have it, my work is having a Halloween pot luck tomorrow!
So baking the brownies was a piece of cake ((hee hee! Baked products humour!)), but the meringue ghosts proved to be a challenge. First of all, despite my many years of baking experience, I don’t think I’ve ever made meringue before. I followed the recipe – beat egg whites to form soft peaks, then slowly beat in sugar and keep beating until stiff peaks form. But the stiff peaks – they weren’t forming! A quick Google search revealed two problems: (1) the egg whites should have been at room temperature, while mine were quite cold ((the recipe I had said *nothing* about temperature, but every other recipe for meringue states this as the most important thing in all of meringuedom)), and (2) there was no mention of adding cream of tartar (or some other acid) to stabilize the beaten eggs. I couldn’t do anything about the egg temperature, but I threw in some cream of tartar and managed to get peaks – not quite what I’d called “stiff” peaks, but stiffer than soft peaks and it seemed that that was the best I could do.
And that long winded description explains why my meringue ghosts are a little bit, well, flat. And fat. But they are *my* fat flat ghosts.
My ghosts before baking.
And after baking.
And now I just need to make a little sign to go with these: “THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GHOSTS! I KNOW, MY MERINGUE TECHNIQUE NEEDS SOME WORK!”
For the record, this is what they were *supposed* to look like:
They’ll be better next time!
Comments |7|
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Tags: baking, brownies, food, Ghostly Brownies (attempt thereof), meringue
Hmmm. blob ghosts! i never have luck baking
I'd still eat them; they look DELICIOUS
We did, in fact, just eat them. And they were, in fact, DELICIOUS!
The brownies were really, really tasty, so I'm keeping the brownie recipe, but the next time I do these, I'm looking for another meringue recipe!
Sorry, but it's "baked with me" not "I". I thought you were a grammar freak.
Um. I am with "guest" 😉
Well, that will learn me for writing posts late at night when I'm too tired to write properly!
All meringuedom! Brilliant!
I don't know if years of baking experience count if you've never done a meringue! We have to do a pavlova some day… maybe for Christmas.
Hee hee: you said "stiff peaks!"