Meringue Ghosts

I’ve been sitting on this recipe for about a two years. It came across in one of my Hungry Girl emails quite some time ago and I finally decided to make these cuties while digging through my cookbook for my taco soup recipe. Just in time for Halloween tomorrow!

Meringues are a tricky dessert to make… as evidenced by Attempt #1, which was a complete failure. See, one of my yolks broke in the bowl and I managed to remove about 98% of the yolk, but that pesky 2% killed my meringue. Having never made them before, I had a hunch that they wouldn’t turn out, but I baked them anyway. Two hours later, I admitted defeat and started over.

Attempt #1 – don’t they look like sad little ghosts?

This time, I separated the eggs in a different bowl than the one I was using to whip the ingredients together. This allowed me to crack one egg at a time before adding it to my large bowl. I didn’t end up breaking any of the yolks, but I’m glad I took the extra precaution instead of wasting another batch.

(adapted from HG’s Ghost-with-the-Most Meringues)
3 large egg whites
1/3 C granulated white sugar
1/3 granulated Splenda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
mini Reeses pieces

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line 2-3 large baking pans with parchment paper.

In a large glass or stainless steel bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Using an electric mixer set at high speed, beat until fluffy and slightly stiff, about 3 minutes. Continue mixing with your electric mixer, and gradually add the sugar and Splenda until completely combined. Add the vanilla and continue mixing until blended.

If your mixture doesn’t look like this…

…start over.

Using a spatula, transfer all the meringue mixture to a large plastic bag. Squeeze mixture down toward one bottom corner of the bag. Snip that corner off with scissors to create a simple piping bag.

Pipe mixture onto the parchment paper in ghost-like shapes about 3 inches long. Use the tip of your piping bag to smooth mixture and make sure the ghost shapes are filled in solidly.

Place 2 mini Reeses pieces on each ghost for eyes.

Bake in the oven for 70 minutes. Turn oven off and allow meringues to set in the oven for 1 hour.

WW Points per serving (2 meringues): 1 point

Who’s the cutest little dinosaur I ever did see??? Well, that would be my adorable nephew Calvin, who will be 2 years old in December.