Monster Meringues
Some of the links in this post might be affiliate links. Some of the links in this post might be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means I earn a small amount of money if you purchase something through the link, at no cost to you. I promise I only recommend items I love! You can read our full disclosure here.
What are meringues?
Meringues are cookies made from just egg whites & sugar! The egg whites and sugar are whipped up until stiff peaks form, and some flavour and colour is added if desired. Meringues can be shaped pretty much however you want, then they’re baked at a low temperature in the oven for a long time. The result is a cookie that’s airy, crispy on the outside and kind of marshmallowy in the middle.
Meringues are a pretty old fashioned cookie and they’re usually pretty rustic. This is a modern take on meringues where they will be coloured brightly and shaped into spooky cute monsters for Halloween!
What are the eyeballs made of?
I made my own eyeballs from royal icing. I’ve included the recipe in this post, but you can also buy premade icing eyeballs if you want. If you’re in Canada, they sell them at Bulk Barn. There are also these ones and these ones on Amazon that look pretty nice!
How long does it take to make these meringues?
The eyeballs need to dry overnight so if you want to make your own, plan accordingly! The meringues should also stay in the oven overnight so just plan to make everything at least the day before you want to serve or eat your meringues. Meringues stay fresh for quite a while due to their high sugar content, so you could make these up to a week in advance of when you want them!
Making the meringue batter is pretty quick - probably about 20 minutes, but baking them takes about an hour. After they are done baking, they need to stay in the oven overnight. So, this recipe does take a while, but it’s mostly downtime.
What ingredients do I need?
Here’s your grocery list:
-Eggs
-Icing Sugar
-Salt
-Vanilla Paste (or other candy flavouring of your choice)
-Gel food colours
You will also need a kitchen scale or measuring cups & spoons (but I highly recommend the scale!) , a few bowls, a spatula, a silicone mat and a baking tray, some spoons, an icing spatula, and a hand mixer or a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. You’ll also need a few small piping bags and small round tips like a #2 or #3 if you plan to make the icing eyes yourself.
Here’s how to make Monster Meringues:
You can find the full recipe below but I’ll go over the steps in a little extra detail here.
First, make your icing eyes! (Skip this step if you plan to buy icing eyes instead)
Mix up a batch of Royal Icing following the recipe below.
Get two small bowls and put a small scoop of icing in each. Colour one scoop whatever colour you want the irises of your eyes to be, and colour the other scoop black using gel food colouring. Put each of these into separate piping bags with #2 or #3 round tips (or cut a tiny hole in the end of your bags if you are using disposable bags). Also make a bag with white royal icing.
To make the eyes, take a piece of parchment or wax paper and pipe a ring of white icing the size that you want your eye to be (I did mine about 3/4” diameter), then pipe a ring of the colour you chose for the iris inside the ring of white. Fill in the middle with black, then make a dot of white in the top corner of your black icing as a highlight. Repeat until you have about 24-30 eyes.
Let the eyes dry overnight. Once they are dry, they should peel off of the parchment or wax paper easily.
Next, make the meringues:
You need to use FRESH egg whites for the meringues. The boxed ones don’t whip up as well.
Before you separate your eggs, make sure the mixer bowl you are using is very very clean, with no spots of grease anywhere. Same with the whisk attachment or beaters for your hand mixer.
Put a pot with a few inches of water in the bottom onto your stove and bring to a boil. Make sure your mixer bowl will sit on top without touching the water.
Preheat your oven to 250 C.
Separate your eggs, weighing out the whites in your mixer bowl. Save the yolks for something else, like making lemon curd (yum!). Add your icing sugar & salt and whisk together. Put your bowl on top of the boiling pot of water.
Stir the mixture constantly with your whisk until the icing sugar is dissolved and the mixture is very warm to the touch (about 50 degrees Celsius)
Whip with your hand mixer or put on your stand mixer and whisk with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form.
Add your vanilla paste or candy flavouring and whisk again for a few seconds.
Pull the bowl off your mixer and use your spatula to make sure everything is evenly mixed. Divide the mixture into 3 bowls (or however many colours of monsters you want to make.) and use your gel colours to colour the meringue in each bowl. When colouring, use your spatula to fold the colour in gently. If you mix too vigorously, your meringue will lose it’s air and won’t hold a shape when you bake it.
Once you’ve coloured your meringue, place your silicone mat on your baking sheet and scoop very big spoonfuls (about 1/4-1/3 cup) of meringue onto the silicone mat. Make sure you leave a couple of inches between each because they will expand in the oven. You may need to use 2 baking sheets. You should get about 1 dozen meringues.
Next, take your icing spatula and lightly touch it to a meringue then pull away quickly, creating a little spike. repeat all over each meringue, making your monsters look “furry”.
Place the meringues in the oven and bake for about an hour. After an hour, check to see if you can pull one of the meringues up off the silicone mat. If it comes off easily without leaving a chunk behind, your meringues are done. If not, bake for another 10 minutes and test again. Repeat until you can easily pull a meringue off the mat. Turn off your oven and leave the meringues in the cooling oven overnight or until the oven is back to room temperature.
Pull your meringues out of the oven and use a piping bag filled with white royal icing to put eyeballs on each of your meringue monsters. I like to give each one a different number of eyeballs. Some have 1, some have 2 or 2 or 4 or even 5!
Ta-dah! Now you have an awesome gluten-free, dairy free, spooky cute Halloween treat!
Store your meringues in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.
Here's a video of the process!
Here's the recipe!
Monster Meringues
Ingredients
- 120g (1/2 cup) Fresh egg whites
- 230g (1 cup) Icing Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Paste
- Gel food colouring (I used Americolor Electric purple, Electric green, and Orange)
- 78g (1/3 cup) Egg whites (fresh or from a carton)
- 440g (2 cups) Icing sugar
- Gel food colouring (I like Americolor)
Instructions
- Add egg whites & icing sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
- Mix on low speed until soft peaks form.
- Transfer royal icing to an airtight container. Keep the lid on between taking out what you need.
- Using 3 piping bags with small holes or #2 or #3 round tips, place a big scoop of white icing in one, then color a scoop green or whatever colour you want the irises of your eyes to be and place that in a second bag. Colour a scoop of icing black and place that in the third bag.
- On a piece of parchment or wax paper, pipe circles of white icing approximately 3/4" wide. Pipe circles of green or another colour just inside the circles of white, then pipe black in the middle, filling in the circle. Pipe a small dot of white in the top right of the black circle as a highlight. Repeat until you have at least 24 eyes. Make more if you want your monsters to have more eyes.
- Let dry overnight. They are dry when they peel easily off of the parchment or wax paper.
- Preheat your oven to 250 C.
- Measure egg whites, icing sugar, and salt into a mixer bowl and place over a pot of boiling water. Whisk until mixture reaches 50 degrees celcius/sugar is melted.
- Place bowl on stand mixer with the whisk attachement and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form.
- Fold in vanilla paste (or other flavouring) gently with a spatula, or whisk for a few more seconds on the mixer.
- Divide your meringue into 3 bowls (or however many different coloured monsters you want) and gently fold gel food colouring into each until you reach your desired colours.
- Spoon large spoonfuls of your meringue onto a baking sheet with a silicone mat. You should get about 12 monsters. You might need two baking sheets. Leave a couple of inches between each monster.
- Take an icing spatula and gently touch it to a monster and pull away quickly, creating a spike. Repeat until your monsters are as spiky/furry as you want them to be.
- Bake at 250 degrees celcius for 45-60 minutes. Once you can easily peel a meringue off the silpat, that means theyre done. Turn off the oven and let meringues sit in the oven overnight.
- The next day, take your candy eyes or royal icing eyes and use a piping bag filled with white royal icing to put a small amount of icing on the back of each eye and stick them to your meringue monsters. Stick as many eyes as you like on each monster.
- Store your monsters in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks. Make sure the container has no moisture in it or your meringues will get soft.
