I know it has taken me forever to finish these mushrooms, but I think the final result was worth it… you be the judge.
So, I started the process by taking each mushroom head and putting a hole in it with a paring knife, they looked something like this:
I then started to melt my milk chocolate in a double boiler, oh what a joy that was.. I have still not mastered the art of the double boiler, maybe it’s the fact that I don’t own the right pans, or maybe the idea of steaming hot water bubbling under the surface of a bowl freaks me out too much to concentrate, I haven’t decided.
It all started out well, I was confident, my chocolate was just beginning to melt, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, this would be the time that my chocolate would cooperate…
As you can see from this picture, the chocolate was melting pretty nicely, the aroma was very inviting, I was looking forward to eating the leftovers on graham crackers, strawberries, marshmallows, and the possibilities were endless. But my fears got the best of me, and I accidentally tilted the bowl right after this photo was taken, and about a teaspoon of water got into the melted chocolate. Now we all know what happens when you mix melted chocolate with water, and for those of you who don’t, here is a photo:
Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed, but I was not about to give up. So I threw that down the garbage disposal and took out a new bag of chocolate, this time white, in hopes that the different color would make me forget of the tragedy of wasting 12 ounces of beautiful milk chocolate.
Ahhhh, yes. Exactly what I was looking for! (I have to admit, I got a smaller pan, so that my fingers weren’t so close to the boiling water, it helped a great deal!) Now onto the fun part, the construction of the mushrooms. I smeared the white chocolate onto the bottom of each mushroom head with a small cheese knife-
After sticking the base into the top of the mushroom, I used an empty egg carton to let the mushrooms set in, it was a pretty good idea in theory, but my mushrooms were a bit small, and they all sort of tipped over..
I was a bit impatient and did not let them set as long as they probably should have. I would say, leave them alone for a good 10 minutes, and then transfer them onto a cookie sheet, just to see how cool they look standing up! (If they can..)
Well there you have it folks, meringue mushrooms, in all their glory! Wait till you see how cool they look on the ‘psychedelic’ birthday cake I made!
*I used 1 whole bag of Ghiradelli Chocolate chips (2 if you count the little mess up..) and I put the stove top on medium-high until the chocolate melted to a consistency that I could lift it with my spatula and it would fall in a ribbon shaped pattern. Once it came to its appropriate consistency you have to watch it, or else it WILL over heat and change the consistency of the chocolate, so work fast!
