The Christmas meringue trees are very delicious, light, and crisp sweets with lots of colorful sprinkles, perfect for decorating the holiday table or as a gift package.
During the Christmas period, while preparing various traditional desserts, egg whites often remain, and this is the right occasion to prepare them and add them to the list of Christmas sweets.
For these sweets, you only need two ingredients: egg whites and sugar, and vanilla flavor if you like to add a touch more flavor.
The trees are also ideal for decorating other desserts like cakes or more; they are beautiful naturally, but we can have fun creating a bit of color by adding some food coloring.
For the very simple preparation, there are still some rules to follow that you will find in the procedure!
TRY THESE VARIANTS TOO
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Low cost
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- 6 oz sugar
- 1 vial of vanilla flavor
- as needed white chocolate
- as needed colorful sprinkles
Tools
- 1 Electric whisk
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Piping bag
- 1 Baking tray
- 1 Oven
Steps for the meringue trees
Fundamental rules:
Egg whites always at room temperature
Never let any yolk fall into the white
Dry and clean bowl.
Always start by whipping the egg whites first and then add the sugar
Preheated oven, once the cooking time has elapsed, turn off and leave meringues inside until completely cooled.
Place the egg whites in a bowl and start whipping with electric whisks or a stand mixer for at least 5 minutes.
Then gradually add the granulated sugar and the flavors if desired, with extreme patience continue to whip until you notice that everything becomes very stiff (almost hard).
When the mixture is very stiff and shiny, the meringue is ready.
At this point, you can also add food coloring if you want colored meringues.Preheat the oven to 212°F, fan mode, and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Transfer the meringue into a piping bag and on the tray, form mounds of meringue starting from the base until forming a tree.
You can decorate the meringues with colorful sprinkles before baking or do it afterward.
COOKING
Bake the Coconut-filled Meringues for about 45-50 minutes. If they start to darken, immediately lower the oven temperature to 194°F. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN.After this cooking phase, turn off the oven without removing the meringues; leave them to cool until the next day or at least until completely cold, about 2 hours.
The meringue trees are ready to decorate.
Melt a little white chocolate (about 2 oz), with a teaspoon or syringe pour stripes on the meringues and then sprinkle with colorful sprinkles.Let them set well, and here are the ready-to-serve Christmas Meringue Trees!
Storage, Tips, and Variants
Once cold, meringues can be stored for a long time in a closed tin box, they should not get humid.
The trees can be decorated and colored as desired.
You can also prepare bags and give them as gifts at Christmas.
FAQ
Can I color the trees?
Yes, of course, you can add green or other food coloring after they are whipped.
