My favorite Christmas cookie yet

As most of you know, Martha Stewart is pretty much my idol. Her recipes inspire me to make most of my creations in the kitchen. This year, I was looking for a recipe for the perfect christmas cookie, and I found it on her site. I wanted to share it with you and give you my notes on what I did and show you pictures of my work. Feel free to give it a try and share your results with me too!

Peppermint Meringue Cups with Chocolate Ganache
recipe from Martha Stewart Living, December 2010 issue

Here's how mine turned out:



Ingredients

For the meringue cups:

Vegetable oil cooking spray
3 large egg whites, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
Red gel-paste food coloring (you can find this at any craft store, make sure to get the non-flavored kind though!)

For the ganache:

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
Garnish: 1 large candy cane, finely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees.

Trace 16 circles onto each of 2 pieces of parchment using a 1 3/4-inch round cookie cutter, spacing about 2 inches apart. (I didn't do this, I just made them whatever size I felt like)

Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray, and top each with a sheet of parchment, traced side down.

Make the meringue cups:

Heat egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl of a mixer set over a pan of simmering water, stirring, until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm to the touch, about 3 minutes. Transfer bowl to mixer. Whisk on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Beat in peppermint extract.

Using a small food-safe paintbrush, paint 3 stripes of red food coloring up the inside of a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain round tip. Transfer egg-white mixture to pastry bag; pipe coils to fill each traced circle. Pipe up sides of each to create 3/4-inch- to 1-inch-high cups.

Bake until meringue cups are crisp but not browned and lift off parchment easily, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Transfer meringue cups to a wire rack, and let cool completely.

While those are baking, make the ganache:

Transfer chocolate to a heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a gentle simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Pour over chocolate, and let stand for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and cut a small slit in the top. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.
Stir ganache, and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch open-star tip.

Pipe ganache into the center of each meringue cup.


And for fun, I also made these plain peppermint meringues, following the recipe for the meringues from this, and piping them onto the parchment paper from a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4 inch open-star tip: