Martha Stewart Easy Recipe

Courtesy Martha Stewart

Celebrity chef Martha Stewart always has easy recipes for the holidays. This Peppermint Meringue With Chocolate Filling Cookie recipe  is the perfect dessert recipe. Festive and light. The perfect way to end a meal without feeling too guilty!

Best of all, you can prepare and keep these cookies in an air tight container, for up to a month before serving. Just don’t put in the refrigerator or freezer. You’ll have soft meringues!

Celebrity chef recipes become classics for a reason. This easy recipe belongs in your “go to” holiday collection under the “easy dessert” category, as long as you have a pastry bag and tips on hand.  Looking for a fun hostess gift? These homemade meringues are the perfect answer!

INGREDIENTS:

3 large egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
Red gel-paste food coloring
1 cup heavy cream
6 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Secure corners with masking tape. Fit a pastry bag with a small open-star tip (such as Ateco #22).  Set aside.

Meringues

Put egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water, and stir gently until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Transfer bowl to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Mix in peppermint extract.

Using a new small paintbrush, paint 2 or 3 stripes of red food coloring inside the pastry bag. Fill bag with 1 to 2 cups meringue. Pipe small (3/4-inch-high) star shapes onto prepared baking sheets. Refill bag as necessary, adding food coloring each time.

Bake cookies until crisp, but not brown, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.

Ganache

Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, until just simmering.

Pour over chocolate in a small bowl. Let stand 5 minutes. Gently stir until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Let ganache cool at room temperature, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes until thick enough to hold its shape. This takes about 45 minutes. (If ganache sets before using, reheat in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Repeat the cooling process.

Before serving or mailing, fill a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip (such as Ateco #5) with ganache.

Pipe a small amount onto bottom of 1 meringue. Sandwich with another. Repeat with remaining ganache and meringues.

Transfer to wire racks. Let set 30 minutes.

 

NOTE

You might try this for dessert after Martha’s wonderful Greek Chicken Cutlets for dinner. For me, I love so many of  the older recipes that appear in Martha Stewart Living magazine. This one is from 2004, nearly 10 years old, but still a festive and easy desert during the holidays.

 

– The Gourmet Review

 

 

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