Happy Halloween: Meringue Ghosts and Pumpkins

I had grand plans for what I was going to make for the office Halloween party. We have a contest every year and, being on of the resident bakers in the office, I feel like I need to make something impressive. When it came time to actually make the fantastic cupcakes I'd planned, I bailed. On Friday I saw a picture on Twitter posted by Karlynn Johnston of Kitchen Magpie (@KitchenMagpie) of the adorable meringue ghosts she was making for her Halloween party. Instantly, I changed my plans and decided to make these instead.

 

Martha Stewart has a Halloween recipe on her site for meringue bones. I used that recipe to make these ghosts and also some pumpkins (that don't really look like pumpkins). 

Meringue Ghosts

Using Martha Stewart's Sweet Bones recipe 

6 large egg whites (I used 7)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (my addition)

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put egg whites and sugar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture feels warm to the touch, about 5 minutes.
• Return bowl to mixer, and fit mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until very stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes.
• Transfer meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, such as a Wilton #1A . Pipe ghost shapes onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake until crisp throughout, about 1 hour. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

About half way through the whisking. Still pretty soft peaks.

After the full 8 minutes on high speed. Nice and stiff.

Decorating supplies - food coloring, candy sticks, piping bags, chocolate chips, and chocolate covered sunflower seeds

I didn't have a big enough round tip so I just cut the end off the piping bag. For the pumpkins I used a Wilton 1M tip.

Pre-decoration ghosts

Lesson learned today - don't try to make white meringue orange using normal liquid food coloring. I can see why the chefs on TV recommend the gel coloring. What I made was really a salmony pink color. I think the wonders of photo editing let me make these look remotely close to orange. 
 

Pumpkins. Hey, I tried.

Slightly peachy looking pumpkin.

Wish me luck in the contest. I think I'm going to need it!

Did you make any treats for Halloween this year?